The First Victor
by NacaMichio
Summary: "I don't feel like a victor. Would a victor have killed the love of his life to save his life? Would he have slaughtered twelve people just because he was told to? The Hunger Games is cruel. That is all I can say. " this is the story of first Hunger Games
1. Reaping

**Prologue**

"_I don't know how to tell you this." I stare into the Caesar Flickerman's eyes for a moment then turn and give the same piercing stare to the camera. I know everybody is watching me at this exact moment. With my ice blue eyes, so full of sadness and need and hate, no one can look away from their television. Even the most teary eyed or angry about what I did in the arena are watching._

"_Tell us what?" Caesar says when I take too long._

"_I loved her." I mutter, casting my eyes down at the precise moment, that one moment that makes everyone gasp. I stand up, pull out a knife and stab myself in the chest. This is how the 1__st__ Hunger Games ends; this is how it all ends._

_With the death of Mallorin Pitchman, the first victor of the Hunger Games._

**The Beginning**

I walk down the street and fix my coat so that the moist air won't cause me to sweat. Why did they choose today for the reaping? The idea that I have to stand in a field next to the ocean and wait for them to call two names, is bogas to me. District four is for fishing, not playing games for the Capitol's entertainment.

Mother tells me not to say things like this. _Why shouldn't I? _ I ask. The war is over, we learned our lesson. We are being submissive. What is the point of the Hunger Games. Mother looks me dead in the eye every time and says _do you even care that two children _your_ age are going to die?_ I laugh at her. I pretend I don't care.

But I do care. I care a lot. It terrifies me. But if I let anyone know that, if I let myself know that, then I will fall apart. I pretend that the imminent death of 23 children doesn't bother me.

A month ago they announced the Hunger Games to prepare us for them.

"_We will go to each district!" The strange pink woman on the screen tells us, "We will choose one boy and one girl for the honor of becoming the first Tributes! These tributes will be put in an arena and will fight until the death to remind the rebels that we are not to be messed with." She giggles, "Hugs and kisses from the Capitol, this is Marian signing off!" _

Marian is actually the woman standing on stage as our representative. We sign in, again, and then are led away to our consecutive age and gender biased corals. I am seventeen and a boy so I am shoved in the line unceremoniously by a peacekeeper, unlike the seventeen year old girls.

"Happy Hunger Games!" Marian starts her speech. It's long and drawn out so I don't even try to keep up. I stare at the sky, blue and cloudless as always. Turquois like the sea. Storm in probably coming in. My attention is drawn to the television screen above her head as she turns around to watch. My breath catches in my throat as horrifying images flash up there of the war and I start to hyperventilate when I see my father. He was a very well-known soldier in the resistance. The only reason I'm alive, is because I was taken in by my Godmother when they went off to fight. I collapse when I see the bomb obliterate the camp my father is stationed at.

_How did they get that footage?_ The video continues for a while then images come up of District 13 and the bombings then the ruin. I am picked up, smacked and shoved back in spot where my stepbrother catches me and holds me up. Cory and I are the oldest in the family of six. I hate seeing my step siblings in the corals, but we can't defy the capitol anymore.

Many of us have trained for this. Some of us are already fit from the effort during the war. Others are just fit from work or just being fit. I'm fit but small for my age. A lot of girls love me, something about the strong, dark mysterious type. I have blonde hair, bleached from the sun, piercing blue eyes, and tan skin, but I am small compared to the others.

"Now, we choose one boy and one girl. As is customary, Ladies first." Marian announces_. Where is that customary?_ I wonder. Not here. Here girls are treated the same as guys, most of the time. I mean we do have class, but Ladies first.

"Need some help?" The mayor asks Marian. She can't seem to reach the girl's names. She nods and he lifts her tiny form by the waist and she squeaks. Finally she gets a name.

"Amelia Mercer! Where is Amelia Mercer? Come on up, dear." I am relieved it isn't one of my step-siblings, but dread fills me anyway. I really like Amelia. She is so sweet and her blonde curls just knock me through a loop. She always says she loves how I look like a wolf about to pounce. I've never seen a real wolf, but I take it as a compliment. I close my eyes and pray quietly to myself.

"Now to the boys!" Marian announces. She digs around but there is no need for her to have help this time. The names fill this bowl and she doesn't have to dig far. _Please no, no, no. _ I think as I hear her unfolding the paper by the microphone. I am sweating really bad and I know I have gone pale. If Cory wasn't holding me up, I would be on the ground again.

"Who is it?" Someone shouts. I hear the peacekeepers noisily move over to him and remove him from the area. I can't open my eyes.

"Rude." Marian huffs before taking a deep breath, "The male tribute of District Four is Mallorin Pitchman!" She says delightfully. I know the camera is on me. I try to stay calm and I nod to Cory to let me go. I can't look up yet. We discuss it quietly before he lets me go. I walk out into the alley and start towards the stage and then pass out.


	2. The Mentor

**Chapter Two**

I wake up with the Peacekeeper dragging me to the stage. Great way to get sponsors in the arena, I hear they are the difference in the arena. They buy and send gifts during the fight. Well, I get up the steps on my own and everyone cheers for me. Marian makes me shake hands with Amelia and she looks at me like I'm disgusting. I am, right now.

"The tributes of District Four!" Marian lifts our hands into the air and I feel faint again, but stay on my feet this time.

We are ushered inside the courthouse, our prettiest building right now. We sit in separate rooms, since we are now enemies, and we are supposed to get visitors for the next hour. My Godmother comes and hugs me for almost all of her time, then gives me a small, bronze, trident necklace. This is going to be my token in the games. The one thing allowed in the arena with me. It isn't sharp so it will be allowed.

She is ushered out and Cory comes in with Mason, my best friend. I stand and hug him then Mason and we sit in the chairs facing each other.

"You'll make it, man. You are the strongest kid in school. You'll beat the carp out of them." Mason punches my arm and I smile, but it doesn't last. I hang my head and grab chunks of my hair.

"I think you mean crap." I mutter.

"You'll be alright, Mallorin. You are small but strong. Psych them out. Make them think you're tiny and weak, then take them out." Cory laughed, "The color is returning to your face." Then even they were ushered out. Next came my girlfriend, Francine. I kiss her like we have never kissed in our lives. She is ushered out faster than the others. I don't know why. Then my hour is over and I am ushered out to this huge train. I wave at my family and friends as I am dragged onto the train.

Once the door is closed the train takes off. Marian is smiling at the two of us like she is a cat and we are some very unlucky mice. I look over and see Amelia crying, her hands tented over her nose as she sobs. Her gorgeous eyes are clouded over with the tears she can't seem to stop. I put my hand out and she takes it, then lets herself be pulled into my arms. I press my face in her hair and whisper encouragement to her. _Why did no one volunteer for you?_ I think to myself. She finally calms down and pulls away, still holding my hand.

"Let's take you to your rooms." Marian takes us away with that awkward little smile she uses when she is uncomfortable. We see it a lot in the next few days. Amelia's room is first, "Dinner in an hour." Marian says to her. I follow down the train three compartments, past the dining car, and to my room. She doesn't tell me _dinner in an hour,_ she just closes the door.

I turn around and lean on the door, slowly sliding down it. I hate this. All of it. I should have known I would be chosen. We couldn't hide that I was not my godmother's child. The Capitol knows who I am and are punishing my parents in their graves. I feel the tears running down my face and then I get angry and throw my jacket off. I stand up and open the dresser drawers, throwing each of them across the room. I angrily kick them, breaking everyone. I rip off my shirt and throw it, jumping up and down on the bed.

Finally I am too exhausted to continue my tantrum and flop down, face first, into a pillow. I clutch my trident in my hand and scream into my pillow. If this was any other circumstance I would say I was acting like a girl or a five year old. I'm just scared, and pissed.

An hour passes and I am jolted awake from the short nap I have taken. When I ignore the knocking and the door is flung open and I am dragged out of the bed. _Who are you?_ I think to the strange looking man who dragged me onto my feet.

"I am Gustav Vincent. I am your mentor. Get dressed." He gestures to the clothes on the ground. I turn around then snarl at him.

"I don't want to." Then he smacks me across the face. I look up at him and grit my teeth but this makes him hit me harder and I stumble back. I'm shaking at this point but I just ball my hands into fists, "Does it matter what I wear?" I ask through my teeth.

"Not really. Shirt and pants, preferably matching, not what you have on." He nods to the floor and I glance around then flash my eyes back to his as I lean down to get the shirt and pants I found. I don't take my eyes off of him as I put my shirt on then I glance behind him at Marian and my cheeks go red. I cast my eyes to the floor.

"Can she leave?" I ask. He smiles.

"No, she can't." Vincent answers.

"I have to change in front of a woman?" I ask, staring angrily at him again.

"Yes you do." He smiles again, challenging me.

"I won't." I grit my teeth.

"I'm going to leave." Marian says. Vincent points at her, still staring me down.

"Stay right there!" He commands. I takes a few steps, closing the distance between us.

"I'm a person! I won't be disgraced by you Capitol people!" I yell. This time he hits me and knocks me clear to the floor. I don't stay down long. I try to take out his knees and stand up, trying to punch him. He catches my fist and twists it around, and has me by a hold on my throat.

"Well, I think we might have a winner here. I thought that you were a weakling and I was going to have to train the girl. You can go, Marian. I'll get him to dinner in one piece." He says in my ear as I struggle to get loose.

"Let go!" I yell as I hear the door shut behind me. I'm frantic at this point because now I'm alone with this crazy man.

"Make me!" He commands. He's quieter, much less aggressive, more venomous, now that Marian is gone. I pull a few times on his arm to knock his guard off. He thinks I am going to try to pull him over my back. Instead I head-butt him and stomp on his foot as I elbow him in the gut. He doesn't let go so I bite his arm and then flip him over my back.

He stands and I am knelt over, hands out in front of me in offensive position. I put my palms up.

"Ok, calm down." I tell him, backing to the door. Blood is pouring down his face. He grins and stands up, palms up, backing away.

"Just testing you. Get dressed." He grabs a black shirt and presses it to the flow as he edges around me and leaves the room. I change pants and follow him out the door. I feel my neck bruising. I rub it and choke a few times but It's alright when I see the glorious food they have laid out for us.

Then she walks in. She is wearing a red dress with her hair pulled up in a ponytail on the side of her head so it all falls down her right shoulder.

"You look amazing, Amelia." I say. She death glares me. I don't know why.

"Don't talk to me. We're enemies, remember?" We sit and are soon joined by Vincent and Marian, and we feast like we have never feasted before. I try to use the utensils, but it doesn't last. Marian hates that I eat with my hands. I don't care. I stuff myself.

"We will be at the training center in two days You will be dressed and there will be a chariot ride. After that then we will see how everything plays out. Tomorrow is the third rebroadcast of the reapings. You'll see who you are up against." Vincent instructs us. I ignore him and go right to bed when he dismisses us.

**Hope you enjoyed. I love reviews, critisim of any kind.**


	3. The Train

I jolt awake when I hear the first timid knock. I walk groggily to the door, afraid Vincent is going to attack me again. I open the door and lean back in surprise, squinting in the bright hallway light.

"Amelia?" I say quietly. She has been crying for a while. She grabs the hand I'm not scratching my hair with.

"Can I talk to you?" She whispers.

"Yeah. Sure. Come on in." I lead her in and as soon as I close the door she slams into my chest. At first I think she is attacking me. I fall back into the wall and catch myself on the wall before I realize she is hugging me. I wrap an arm around her, very confused. I press my nose in her hair like earlier. I've seen Cory comfort his girlfriend this way. After a moment she steps away and I stand up.

"I am so sorry. I'm so scared! I am so scared. I don't know how to act!" I take her hand and lead her to the bed. I sit down and she sits in my lap sideways and curls her legs up. She wraps her arms around my neck and I wrap my arms around her back and I start to rock.

"I'm scared too. " One of my hands wraps in her hair as we rock, "I can promise you one thing." She buries her face in my neck and I feel the sobs through her whole body. Sixteen. She is only sixteen and has to go through this.

"What?" She barely squeaks out.

"I will protect you as long as I can in there. I will not let anyone kill you." I promise. The worst promise I could give a girl.

We sit together for a long time then I start to get drowsy. She has fallen asleep so I lay down and doze a bit, her head on my chest and arms loosely around my neck. I am a total moron. This chick is going to be the death of me. With this little interaction I have signed a death warrant.

I am woken from the deep sleep, I didn't know I had fallen into, By a screech from my door.

"Unacceptable!" Marian yells. I sit up and almost toss her into the floor, "You are two minors! Meer children and this is unacceptable."

"They are old enough to go to work, to fight in a war, and kill others in an arena built for their destruction, I think a little comfort such as sleeping with a strong man or a young woman is somewhat warranted." Vincent laughs. Amelia shoves me away and runs out of the room. Everyone can tell she is completely dressed and has only been in the room with me for about an hour tops.

"What is the matter with you two!" I yell, "Can't I have a little privacy before…?" Vincent cuts me off.

"No, you can't. Get up and dressed then dining car. Fifteen minutes or I come and drag you there half naked." He nods and shuts the door. He reminds me of my father. _Do this and that as well as twelve other things. Keep on your toes or you'll be another faceless victim of the war. _ The difference was that my father loved me. Vincent was a Capitol man that was trained to live in the wilderness so he could train this first set of tributes. All the tributes in the rest of the games will have to resort to mentors that are victors of previous games. We are the only set with free mentors.

I get dressed and meet them in the dining cart and eat almost to the point I am sick. I feel sick until they give me an alchoholic drink that feels like fire and strawberries running through my veins. I get dizzy and stand up to leave the compartment and I end up on the floor. I don't know how I got here. Vincent drags me to my compartment and strips my shirt off, throwing me in the bathroom in time for me to lose my entire meal and the fiery drink.

"No more of that for you. I'll come back around dinner. Lay down for a while." He commands me. Even though the drink seems to have left my stomach, it hasn't left my system. When he comes back for me I am still buzzed enough to think everything is funny and I can't walk on my own. I sit on a big couch in the television room next to Vincent , to my left, and Marian, to my right. The Reapings come on and I know I have to pay attention.

District one are both beautiful beyond belief. They were both volunteers. The boy, Marcus, was eighteen with short-cropped blonde hair and lime green eyes. The girl, Beth, has red hair to her shoulders, cropped and braided and the same lime green eyes.

"Watch for them. They are not the ones you want to ally with. They look mean and angry." Vincent mutters.

District two's guy,Greisen, is large with olive tone skin and black hair but ice blue eyes. Not quite like mine. My eyes look like deep pools of ice water, his look like pure ice cubes. No life or love behind them. The girl, Lola, is different. She has the same skin and a long black ponytail but her eyes are hazel and are kind. While Greisen volunteered, Lola didn't.

"Get on their team for the beginning and get them when there are only a few of you left." Vincent smirks when Marian squeaks. This makes us miss district three because we are all to busy laughing and joking about Marian with Vincent.

Then it's us. Marian makes a comment about her hair then she is calling Amelia's name. I didn't see it from this point of view. Amelia looks terrifying. As she walks her skin tight dress accents every curve before it flares out around her knees, giving her the appearance of a furious water goddess. Her blonde curls billow down her back as she holds her chin high, ignoreing everyone around her and death glareing the crowd. She terrifies me.

Then Marian calls my name. They had already made a big deal of the first time I passed out. When my name is called they pan around and zoom on me. I pass out. Face in the mud. Luckily the mud is greyish and not the black stuff from district twelve. Then I am picked up and the mud wiped from my face. By the time I am on stage I am pale but my hair looks alright. We look good but I look weak and terrified.

"We'll fix that." Vincent whispers to Marian across my back.

District five has two equally gorgeous tributes. They have porceline skin with soft blue eyes and white blonde hair. They give off a brooding, evil look. Something ominous about them makes my skin crawl. They have the same last name.

"Are they…?" Amelia asks.

"Yes, brother and sister, they will be the ones to look out for. They will brutally murder anyone in their way for eachother. The way they stood together on stage and glared at the crowd. They are in to have one of them win it." Vincent nods.

Only three or four more catch my eyes as the procedure continues. District seven's male tribute had slit-like eyes like a tiger, much like the female, but his hair stuck out literally in every direction. Gold streaks and red streaks highlight his natural brown as well as gold highlights his brown eyes. The girl in nine has platinum blonde hair down to her waist that catches my eye because I do not know how you could have hair that long in a battle arena. In three of the districts there are twelve year olds called but only one looks twelve. She is very small and dainty. Her plane brown hair is pulled into two ponytails over her ears. Someone volunteered for her but she doesn't let them. Bravest out of all of us.

District twelve is the last of the districts. The girl and guy are both skinny, underfed, brown haired and grey eyed. They really don't look like fighters, but neither do I.

"That was thrilling!" Marian says, "district seven's male had such nice hair! That was a fad three months ago in the capitol."

"Was it?" Vincent grumbles.

"Oh yes, I see it making a comeback! Those two in district six were very tiny, a bit like you, Mallorin. I don't see them making it very far." This infuriates me, but Vincent touches my arm and slightly shakes his head no. When he looks at me I see so much more than a meaningful glance. _Show them in the arena, how mad you are about this._ I nod as Marian continues her rant. Sometime during this Amelia just stands up and leaves. Vincent and I stand a while later and she follows me to my room, pausing to say goodnight, then follows Vincent down the hall. Vincent sighs loudly and slams his door.

My nightmares are plagued through the night with nightmares of the district five and district two and drowning by just the pure will of Amelia.

I sit up in bed and realize that my dreams did not wake me. My head spins around and I jump when I see a figure standing by the door. Amelia smiles timidly and I sigh.

"What?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight? The reaping unsettled me."

"What is this!" I shout, "One minute you can't stand to look at me. The next you want my protection. Give me a straight answer, What are you doing?" I ask angrily.

"I…" She starts, her eyes becoming that goddess' cold eyes from earlier as she walks over to me. My bottom lip drops as I breath heavily and back up in the bed, "I am not going to be an ally with you, because we become friends then either you will kill me, or I'll have to kill you. I hope that someone kills you before I have to. If we become ally's, I will have to kill you. I don't want to feel guilty for killing a friend, but I will not die in that arena. I have two siblings I care for. I just want a few more hours of comfort before I am chucked into an arena of death, Wolf-face!" She shouts.

"Thank you!" I sigh, "I just wanted an answer. By the way, I promised to keep you alive, so I do hope someone else kills me so you don't have to." I huffed.

"So can I sleep in here or not?" She crosses her arms and I grin, "What?"

" Are you sure you want to risk it?" I chuckle and she shoves me over, climbing under the sheets with me and laying her head on my chest, wrapping one arm around my waist. She looked grumpily up at me and I smiled again.

"Shut up!" She squieled and I bust out laughing. She smacks my chest, "Goodnight, Wolf-face."

"Night, Ami." I chuckle.

**Thank you to editinggenious, TheMutualEnemy, and Why Fireflies Flash for all your lovely reviews. I love writing this story. The opening is always the hardest part so I am so glad you all thought it was good and I updated as fast as I could. Hope you enjoyed!**

**Reviews please?**


	4. Enemies

**This chapter is a little darker than the others. It might be a little confusing so if you have questions either pm me or ask in review. This should clear up the relationship thing with Mallorin and Amelia. :)**

Why does she hit me? I wake up to Amelia slapping the crap out of me. I grab her by the shoulders and sit her up as she starts thrashing. I grit my teeth against the pain as her nails dig into my chest and neck.

"Ami! Amelia! Please wake up! Wake up!" I shake her a few times, not brutally, just a good shake. She opens her eyes then they come into focus, "Hey, hey, are you alright?" I whisper as the sun raises outside.

"I am so sorry." She looks down and runs her fingers lightly over the cuts. I hiss then smile.

"It's fine, you're fine." I laugh and she smiles and nods, then she frowns and shakes her head and backs off the bed and turns to leave, "Wait! J-just wait." I know she doesn't want us to be friends or allies or really anything, but I am a seventeen year old male. She is confusing the hell out of me.

"I don't want to wait!" She yells. She turns to leave and I leap from the bed and run to the door and slam my hand into the door, my left shoulder slamming into it painfully in the momentum.

"I don't care what you want! I want answers!" I yell at her. She shies away from me. I know I am probably scareing her to death, she needs a wake up call. This is not the game she is trying to play with me, "Tell me what happened to us! I just need to know where we stand before we go in there!" I shout, almost desperate.

"I can't do this right now." She tries to pull the door open and I back up and plant my hands on each side of her, leaning over her. She turns around and I back her up to the door, our noses touching.

"Tell me what happened to us." I grit my teeth, my lips curling back. My hair falls into our faces and she timidly brushes it behind my ear.

"You stopped being interesting. Nobody cared anymore. I wanted popular, mysterious, sexy not, well, you." She shrugs.

"What!" I snarl at her and close my eyes, chewing my cheek, "You used me to get popular?"

"Why else? Other than a little bit of comfort before I kill you in the arena." I slam my hand on the wall behind her and press myself up to her, pushing her closer to the door.

"You have just made the worst enemy you ever could have!" I grab the door knob and fling the door open, running down the hallway. I should have known all along. I am a moron. I storm through three compartments and burst into the fourth one, slamming the door behind me. _How could I be so stupid? She has done this before!_ I sit in one of the sofas and stare at the ceiling as tears well up in my eyes. _This is all so stupid. _I wipe my eyes furiously and growl to nothing, my lips curling past my k-9's.

The door opens and my lips become a thin line of anger. Amelia sits next to me, straight up, her hands in her lap. She looks down and grins then looks at me. She runs her hand through my hair and I jerk my head away and snarl, growling in my chest.

"Get out!" I yell, death glaring her. She just smiles.

"Not in your life time." She flips over and straddles me. My eyes widen and I try to get out from under her but she grabs my wrists and pins them above my head and grabs my hair and yanks it roughly to make me look up. The only reason I haven't tossed her across the room is because attacking other tributes before the arena is a major offense.

"Ge' 'eroff me!" I growl through my teeth and she yanks my hair again, leaning down to put her face in mine, grinning evilly.

"You listen to me, you are going to help me get some sponsors by being just good enough to accent me on the chariot, and to make me memorable in the interviews. When we are put in that wretched arena you are to ally with me and whoever I choose and you will fight with us until I decide to get rid of you. I tried to be nice, be the whole mixed up lover girl you seem to want. You had to go and ruin it. We could have done this very differently." I could feel her nails digging in my scalp, I want to launch her through the window, but I value my life too much for that.

"Done what very differently?" I sigh in relief, "You two are playing nice, right?" Vincent asks. Amelia sits up and smiles.

"Not too nice." She snarles. I hiss at her as she gets off me and leaves, her walk completely different from earlier. Vincent closes the door and sits next to me. I sit up and run my hands through my hair, doubling over and trying to calm my breathing.

"Tell me what that was about." Vincent chuckles. I look up at his with exasperation and lay back again.

"When we were younger, my parents had both died in the resistance. I was new to the district, even though I was born there. I had never lived there because my parents moved around so much. I started school and she chased me like a crazy woman. I tried to ignore her but fell more and more for her. Finally I asked her out. Then she started to tease me. She practically made me her slave. I didn't notice until she broke it off. I thought I would die. I didn't. Now she was acting like she had changed. Like she was a scared tribute like the rest of us. She wanted me to think she was afraid of me becoming more then she would have to kill someone she loved. That, obviously, was an act." I sigh and net my fingers together over my eyes, resting my elbows on the pillows around me.

"So, she attacked you?" Vincent asked, completely serious now.

"No! She was having a nightmare. To set me on edge she tried to leave after the nightmare. Make me think she was having second thoughts. I yelled at her and left. She attacked me in here. I didn't hurt her because it's against the rules." I sound so pathetic right now.

"I really hope you are telling the truth and you didn't just get wooped by a girl." He smacks my leg and stands up, "Come on. The aids can bandage you up." He leads me to the first aid room and I sit while my whole chest and neck are bandaged. I look in the mirror and then storm off to my room. Worst night ever. I dress in a white shirt and loose fitting black leather jacket from one of the broken drawers.

When the train stops, it's off to my stylists to start the work for the chariot ride. They say the protocol for the Hunger Games is just in the making. We are the test run. Much will change in the next year or so. The sad thing is only one of the twenty four tributes will get to see that change.

**Thank you to _editinggenious_ for your super special review and criticism. I loved it.**

**Thank you to _Why Fireflies Flash_ and _Dreamer's Avenue_ for your encourageing and wonderful reviews.**

**Review and Tell me what you think!**


	5. Merman?

**I can't stop! This keeps flowing off my fingers! **

I stared out the window at the passing capitol people. Their strange hair and skin colors, Marian has purple hair with matching skin, but it never prepared me for the multitude of colors. I try to smile but I am so nervous it doesn't work. The lack of sleep, the bruise on my temple, and the bandage barey visible over my collar, make me look frail and weak.

"I am not ready for this." I mutter to myself. Amelia runs her fingers across my shoulders as she walks behind me.

"You're right about that." She grins and looks out the window as we pass. We are still an hour from the remake center where they will make us over. I start to get jittery but don't move. It feels like she is daring me to move. The grin never leaves her face and she never looks at me. Her hair and fingers brush my arm occasionally, but I don't let her see the chills it induces.

"You two better go get dressed in better clothes. It's too warm in the capitol for those but not cool enough for short sleeves. Go on, and Amelia." He grabbed her arm as she walked past.

"What, Vincent?" She spat.

"I choose him. You're on your own." He let her go and walked out of the compartment. She turned to me, her mouth agape. I grin and shrug, following Vincent out. I take off my jacket and put on a black turtle neck shirt to hide my neck. I started back down the hallway and the train slams to a stop causing me to fall on my face. I shake my head and try to get up.

"Might as well get used to that." Amelia walks over me and steps on my hand. I hear Vincent walk up behind me and grunt. I slam my head to the ground in exasperation.

"I hate all of you." I mutter. Vincent laughs and helps me stand up.

"Now, I want you to look as helpless as you can. I want you to look as scared and helpless as you can. In the training center learn everything. Do everything until you are good, but act shy and scared. I want the other tributes to talk to you and think you are just scared and young. For the first half of the games convince them you are an easy target and someone to keep for resources and nothing more. Understand?" Vincent says.

"Alright, you want me to act like I did at the reaping?" I scoff.

"Yes, I do." He nods as we walk to the exit.

"That wasn't acting." I smirk, pat his shoulder and step off the train to be ushered away through the crowd by Marian. I hide my face behind my hair and smile up at everyone as my hands shake like I'm freezing. I look up at the television screen and wave timidly. I look like a twelve year old. I feel aweful for the actual twelve year olds. I finally get in the door and lean over, clutching the wall for support as the room spins.

"That was great." Vincent slaps my back and causes me to cough.

"I hate crowds!" I growl, " I hate this whole thing!" He grabs me by the shoulder and makes sure I am looking at his eyes.

"Now, you are going to charm the world. You're going to look like a young man who gets more and more comfortable with each exposure until the games where you are going to give them a run for their money." He nods and I nod as he leads me to the makeover station. There are three, I think women, waiting for me. They all start talking in frantic voices about my, well, everything. They hate everything.

"I'm Abram." The blue one smiles, he is a male for sure, "This is Chloe." She is the pink one, "And that is Pat." I can't tell if the yellow one is male or female.

I just smile and they all laugh, "What?" I ask confused.

"So naive! And cute!" Says Pat. She's a female. I blush and look down.

"Sooooo cute!" Chloe squeals.

"Stop it! You are embarrassing him, and yourselves! Now, Mal, Ari will be here after we finish to put your outfit and finishing touches. For the first part, you need to wear this." Abram hands me a small, thin, hospital gown. I nod and he ushers me into a small room where I change, even though they are all in the room.

"So, what are you going to do to me before Ari gets here?" I ask quietly, still blushing as they instruct me to lay on the table. My hair is pulled up above my head and Abram starts to wash it as the women start hosing my legs.

"Well, it is not going to be really pleasant, especially for someone as shy as you are." His voice fluctuates like he's asking a question.

"Alright." I nod.

"Oh, is your hair naturally this color!" Abram shrieks.

"It was brunette but the sun bleached it." I answer, trying to stop the shaking in my hands. I scream when they start to wax my legs.

"We have to do that. So sorry. Just try to concentrate on me." Abram instructs me. I bite my lip and flinch every time they pull a strip off my leg," So we have to do your legs because your pants have to stick to your legs and waist because we can't make them form fit any other way. You and Amelia are going to look like, well, mermaids, but you'll be young and handsome while she is going to be terrifying. Tell you the truth, Vincent is trying to sabotage the poor girl."

"Yeah, calling her poor girl is like trying to put a full grown lion in a cage." I scoff. They all laugh like they have never heard a joke before.

"So, when is Ari getting here?" Chloe asks Abram.

"As soon as we finish this I am supposed to soak him in the glue so his pants fit. I'll call him and Ari will come then." Then they start jabbering to each other about meaningless things, asking me questions about my life and comparing me to themselves and everyone in the capitol.

"So, have a girl at home?" Abram asks me. Of course, my face turns blood red. I have a girlfriend, but the person I really care about, stopped talking to me a month ago. No one knows we had a falling out. They never really knew we were friends. Then there is Amelia that I can't stand right now.

"Awe, I know that face." Pat giggles.

"Leave him alone!" Abram smacks Chloe and Chloe laughs out loud, like a bell ringing through the room.

"Alright, I have to trim your hair to your shoulders so it will form the way we need it to." Abram says.

"I guess that's ok." I nod. He trims it then dries it. They tell me to go stand in this spray wash. I close my eyes and the spray chokes me. I'm still choking when they strip my clothes and make me lay down again.

Slowly they start to work on my hair and painting my abdomen. I can feel their brushes on my chest and ribs, all the way to my waistline.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Your hair is going to stand up like a wave in the front and the rest is going to frame your face. The crown will hold the front up. You won't be wearing a shirt, but you will have these wings of sorts." Abram explains. I sigh, _great, I am going to be shirtless._

"At least you won't be naked like district 2! We don't want you to f…" Chloe stopped and looked down. I'm sure if she wasn't pink already, she would be now. I smile at her and wink and she giggles and starts to paint my arm. They only paint up to my elbow then they paint what looks like a shirt made of water that stops at the edge of my shoulder. I blink and move my arm back and forth. It shimmers like water and I want to touch it with my other arm but they stop me and lay me back down.

"Ok, ok, I'll lay back down, calm down ladies." I laugh.

"Your voice is so deep for someone who is only seventeen." Chloe comments. I nod and smile, about to say something when Abram smacks my forhead.

"Be quiet! When you speak you mess me up. I have to start over again." I don't move but I keep joking with the girls, even laughing at times.

"Alright. I want you to go lay down in that tub. Come on." Abram walks me over to a tub that divides down the middle so that only my waist down gets covered in the sticky material Abram pours over me.

"I hope you got all the hair off me." I grin and Abram laughs before assuring me he will return and taking the girls out. My prep team is the weirdest people I have ever met. An hour with them and I love them all. I wouldn't trust any of them as far as I can throw them, and that would be far.

Abram comes back an hour later and wakes me up. I almost smack him in the face because the nightmare I was having was so intense. I wipe the sweat off my face.

"Sorry, This is Ari, your head –stylist." Abram pulls me out of the tub and I gasp and turn blood red. Ari is taller than most men I have met, with a white silk dress and black hair in a bun on her head.

"I'm M-mal-lorin." I stutter, clearing my throat. She puts her hand out in a sort of snobby way but I take it. She shakes it then starts circling me, looking me over.

"Well, Mallorin, I think we can make this work." They both set to work, putting a sparkling blue material on my legs and they soon look like my chest and arms. They attach blue silk at my waist and it flows down on each side, then they paste it to each of my shoulders and wires make it stand up like two fins on my back. Ari leans over and takes a paint brush and accents my cheekbones and they place the large blue metal crown on my forehead and turns me to the mirror.

"Wow!" My face looks like light is reflecting off water below me, my eyes shine out and my hair stands up almost a foot before it curls over to the back of my head. I look like I am wearing a wife beater shirt made of water. The gloves painted on me look like scales and so do my legs under the fin wings that stick out from my back. I look like a water god. Fit for a water goddess. My heart sinks. I have to look like this in front of the chick who wants to kill me.

"Here." Ari puts my trident on me and the whole outfit seems to fit me better. I do not want to do this. Suddenly Ari hugs me around the waist, resting her chin on my shoulder, "You are going to knock them dead. Just make them think you are a charming seventeen year old guy that wants to love them. Then we will slowly age you until you are put in the arena and kick their butts." I smile and look down at my bare feet.

"I can't do this." I mutter, "I mess everything up."

"You will do fine." She whispers. I nod and shrug her off as Vincent walks in.

"Wow, you have done it, Ari. He will win all of their hearts." Vincent grins, "Showtime."

**Thank you editinggenious! for your continueing reviews!**


	6. PTSD

**I feel so sad writing this. I got all emotional so I hope it makes sense and doesn't sound like mindless emotional babble. **

I walk to the loading area and start to take a look around. It's hard to guess what each costume has to do with the different districts. District two's tributes are completely naked, with red bricks painted all over their bodies. They look like they could just become walls. I smile as they walk past but the guy, Greisen, jumps at me and I flinch away, looking down as he walks past. Greisen busts out laughing and I glance up my head still down. Flower rolls her eyes at him and winks at me.

I try to stay out of everyone's way. The district five guy just glares at me as he passes, district one slams into my shoulder, twice. I try to smile awkwardly, but I want to destroy them right now. I ball my hands into fists to stop the shaking. Then I see Amelia. _I should give up right now._

She had a similar outfit on, except over her painted on shirt she has a small blue bikini. Her eyes are accented. I take a breath and step up to her then we are corralled into our chariots. Like gladiators. I stand next to her and try to turn away. She grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, leaning into my face.

"Do it for your parents!" She hisses venomously. I feel my throat tighten. My lips curl back in a feral growl. I hear the roar of the crowd but it sounds like so much more. I hear them screaming for us, but all I hear is screaming. I put my fists to my temples and start to whimper. I hear her laugh and all I hear is the sneer of a capitol that destroyed my parents.

Our carriage moves and I try to calm down. I stand up and turn to the crowd, the fear full and real on my face. I straighten my back and look up at the screen. We look like soldiers going into war. A queen prepared for battle and a soldier drafted before his prime. Suddenly the cheers erupt and Ihave to press my fists to my temples. I whimper and suddenly I feel and elbow in my side. I reach out and fall off the chariot.

I look around and the roar erupts in my ears and when I open my eyes I see a valley below me. The sky is red with the reflection of the flame below. I scream but They hold me back as the hovercrafts lower from the clouds and the bomb obliterates my father's camp. I am knocked back by the wave and I sit up and curl myself into a small corner.

I come in and out of consciousness, between reality and the waking nightmare of my PTSD. Vincent is talking to me, shaking me, trying to calm me down. I just whimper and scream and cry, the makeup smearing all over my hands. I cry and yell, unable to calm down. At some point Vincent picks me up and carries me out.

Hours later I wake up, exhausted. I open my eyes and sit up, doubling over. My hair is falling down in my face, but most still stands up. My makeup is gone and I have pants on and a new wrapping on my chest. I stand up and walk over to my door and crack it open.

"We have been discussing this for hours, What happened out there? I know you have more information then what you are telling me! Tell me why that kid is so screwed up!" Vincent hisses to Marian.

"He… Had a rough childhood." She whispers.

"We all have. Tell me what to do! How do I help him? He screwed up today and I need to know how to fix it!"

"His parents were part of the resistance. His father led part of it. He watched his mother bleed to death and watched his father's camp explode. He has PTSD and he has these meltdowns. The capitol rigged the reaping so that he would be chosen. I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice. You understand?" She starts to mess with her wig excessively.

At first I'm angry, but then I turn around and lace my fingers above my head, my elbows out like wings. I look at the ceiling, now swimming with my unshed tears. I try to calm down but can't. I am sentenced to death by another child and I screw even that up. I want to scream.

_I was the reason my father died! It's all my fault! I accidently led them right to him! _And the other half of me wants to scream_ I was ten years old! It couldn't have been my fault! I didn't lead them to the camp! I ran to warn them! _

By the time Vincent comes in I am staring out the window with my arms above my head, arms above my head. My vision is still blurred by the tears even though they run steadily down my face.

"Mallorin." Vincent places his hand on my shoulder. I shrug him off violently and spin around, flinging my arms down to my sides.

"Don't try to comfort me! Just go away!" I scream.

"No, Mallorin, I am not going to just go away. Tell me what happened back there." He says.

"I screwed up! I'm screwed up! I am messed up in the head and now all of Panem knows it!" I chew on my cheek until I taste the blood. At least now I'm not crying anymore.

"Yes, you messed up, but we can fix this. You played into their hands like dough. Sponsers will try to help you more. You can still win this." He puts his hands on my shoulders and I fling my arms up and push his arms off and him away by the chest.

"No, don't you understand! I can't win! The second I am looked at wrong, I blow up! I have a temper issue that normally leads me into more trouble than it gets me out of! I hear a loud noise I curl up in a ball in a corner and cry! When I think about my parents…" I suddenly can't speak anymore. I just settle for a growling noise and try to pull out all of my hair at once. Vincent grabs my wrists and squeezes until I am forced to let go of my hair.

"I was there! You were not the reason your parents died! I was! They are punishing me now because I tried to save you even though I wasn't supposed to save anyone! I saved you and had to watch as you watched your father blow to smithereens! I didn't recognize you until Marian told me! Mallorin, I am the one who held you back." He puts his hands on my cheeks, "I am sorry!"

"You held me back! You! How am I supposed to believe that! You're lying!" I yell as he holds me in place by my face. One of his hands grabs me by the nape of my neck and presses our foreheads together.

"Mallorin, your real name is Michael Patterson! You are twenty seven and you're naturally a brunette! You are from district five but lived in district thirteen for most of your life. When you were ten you were transferred to your birth district to live under a new name. Please, believe me." I try to calm myself down.

"How d'you know th't?" I sob through my teeth. I can't take my eyes away from his.

"I was the general that was under your father. I was on both sides. I grew attached to you and your family. I was not able to save your family. Now I have a chance to make it up to you and your father. Michael, I am the one at fault, not you." He tries to calm me down. It doesn't work. I feel all my rage subside. It leaves me exhausted. I feel my shoulders slump, my bottom lip falls open and shuddering breaths escape me.

"I can't do this." The words feel like the last of my air being pushed out of me. I lean back against the window behind me and slide to the floor. I turn my head and press it to the cool glass, pulling my legs up.

"Not if you keep acting like this. Michael, you need to win this, or fight for someone who you think should win this. Do it for your parents. Avenge their deaths. Don't throw away their sacrifice. You need to sleep. You have training at nine o'clock AM for the next three days then you are to get up and meet your stylist and prep team at eight in the morning on the fourth day. At eight that night we have to be at the interview. Please, do this for your father." He turns and leaves me alone. I sit and stare out the window. The capitol is beautiful. Sickeningly beautiful. It glows with an eerie light that is not natural.

"Vincent." I say his name aloud over and over, trying to remember. He was shorter then, thinner. His hair was black and his eyes were blue, are blue. He always had blue eyeliner and a tattoo under his left cheek. He had a small green vine with blue flowers. Now he has blue eyeliner and gold. The blue flowers are accented with gold lines and gold flowers.

The tears dry up and my face is sticky with the salt. When the sun starts over the horizon I stand up and walk into the shower. I don't care that I still have the bandages on when I strip down and climb into the shower under the warm stream. Tomorrow I will prove that I am a contender in this game, not just a pawn of the capitol. Vincent is right.

_It's time to avenge._

**Thank you to **_**editinggenious**_** for your review. **

**I am updateing really fast and I know a lot of you don't have time to come back before the next 2000 words are posted. I just type and try to fit as much in as I can. Thanks for reading!**

**Ok so this one is strange. Lots of emotions. Have any questions, ask.**

**Reviews please! **


	7. Hammer

The next few days will pass like nothing I have ever seen. The most important days of the game go way too fast. We are sent down to the training center and lined up. A woman explains that we can spend as much time as we want or as little at any station. We could intermingle but we were not supposed to fight each other. I will have to avoid Amelia as much as possible.

The first station I go to is the edible plants. I get that down in no time so I move to knot tying. I'm decent at that, of course. I have to move along to making hooks, learning to climb trees, using a bow and arrow. I can do all these things. I walk over to the spear throwing station where Greisen is standing. He grins to me and throws the spear, hitting two dummies with it, fake blood spraying everywhere.

"Your turn, pretty boy." He nudges my shoulder and hands me a spear. I listen to the instructor as he tells me how to hold it, how to aim it, how to throw it straight, and how to put all my strength in it. I aim it and take a deep breath and threw it. I saw it hit but then Greisen was wrapping his arm around my shoulders, shaking me and yelling praises. I smile and turn red again. My hair is still sticking up. So it's in his face and falling in my face.

"What? What did I do?" I ask. He shakes me again and more start to gather around us. Beth walks up and runs her fingers through her hair and winks. I can't help the smile creeping onto my face as I look at the floor.

"You hit three of them through the heart and two in the head with one spear!" Greisen yells. His district partner, I learned her name was flower, inspects the damage.

"He did a pretty good job." She smiles, impressed. _I just threw it the way I was told._

"He's been pretty good at everything this morning." The girl from district nine walks over, her long hair pulled back in a ponytail on her else walks to the next station, Greisen pulling me along by the shoulders. They continue to talk about me as we walk to the knife throwing station. We laugh and joke with eachother as I hit every dummy with my knifes. This is my favorite station so far. They continue on and separate and I continue to the sword fighting station and The girl from nine follows.

"I'm Mallorin." I say as we choose our weapons.

"I'm Virginia. Everyone calls me Gina." The rest of the evening we work together, listening to the instructors' and correcting each other. The little touches and smiles, I knew we would be allies.

That night I got six formal requests for allies. I accepted most of them, but on the condition that we all work together as long as we have warning when the alliance wears off. They all accept.

"Let's review the plan." Vincent smiled and tented his hands, "Mallorin is in alliance with Greisen, Lola, Chad and his sister, Virginia, Beth and Warren. Amelia is in alliance with Greisen and Beth. For the first eight kills, you need to stay together. Watch the others. They still might try to kill you without warning. For the first few nights try to get as much sleep as you can while with the others, because your alliance might not last through more than two days. Understand, you two?" He looks at each of us in turn.

"I understand." I nod. Amelia nods also. We are in alliance for the first eight kills.

The next two days go the same. Station to station until I get to the hammer throwing station, this was the best station ever. I take to hammers like a fish to water. I smash two heads flat out then throw it into another's head. I take the next one off my best and spin and smash the next one then turn again and stop my hammer just before Amelia's face.

"Better watch yourself. It's dangerous here." I smile and raise my eyebrows.

"Agh!" She stomps her foot and continues on, unable to comprehend how popular I was becoming despite my meltdown. They all think I am going to be useful. The last day comes and I prepare to go down to the training center but Vincent stops me.

"I didn't want to alarm you, but there is something else you have to do tonight." Vincent sighs.

"What do I have to do?" I ask.

"After lunch you will be called in, one district at a time, boy first, girl second, and then you have to show the game makers your best talent. Then they will rank you from one to twelve how likely you are to win. I didn't want you to be nervous. I know you have shown off in the training but in there I need you to do ten times better. Do you understand?" He puts his hands on my shoulders and my mouth goes dry. _I am not going to freak out. I am prepared for this. I can do this._

After we go down and work with the others we head into the lunchroom and I sit with my "allies" and we joke until they start to call us. The chatter starts to dim down, fear eminating from all of us. Greisen gets called and as soon as he gets up, Amelia sits down in his place.

"Mallorin, I need to talk to you." She faces me and takes one of my hands in hers. I turn to her and rest my temple on my fist, my elbow on the table, grinning.

"Mhm?" I say. I know what she wants.

"I can't do this alone. I know this now. I need you." She skoots closer to me so that she is straddling my leg, "I need you, Wolf-face." She whispers. i grin and lean forward, my lips brushing against her cheek.

"Do you now?" I ask. She turns her head so that we are faceing eachother, our noses brushing. I can feel her breath on my lips.

"Yes, I need you. I'm scared." She whispers.

"I bet you are." I laugh as the district three girl is finally called.

"Mallorin, I try so hard to get on your good side! I need to win and you are going to help me one way or another! I need you!" She hisses. They call my name and I smile. I close the distance between us and kiss her venimously and pull back, smirking.

"That's my name." I wink and stand up, trying to walk more confidently then I feel. The game makers all stand up in a small room above me. there are theatre seats for them but they are ignored as they stand around the caterer.

"You may start." On of them calls to me. I nod and grab a pack of knives and start throwing them, hitting every target I aim for. I have to fish for a living. None moving targets are easy. Next I pick up a long knife, black and curved, about as big as my arm. I run into a bunch of dummies that simulate a fray between four other competitiors. I drop under their crossing blades, spinning on my toes as I take out their knees. I stand and cut the third's throat and spin around the stab the fourth in the back. To set up my finale I grab a hammer, climb a net up into the fake tree and jump down from about fifteen feet, roll over my shoulder, stand up, and hit the dummies chin, knocking its head across the room. I stop and turn to them, breathing heavy. The hammer shakes in my hand, but I don't drop it.

"You may go, Mr. Mallorin." The same one dismisses me. I bow my head and drop the hammer right there and leave. Once Ii go up the elevator I drop onto the couch and sigh.

"So, how did you do?" Vincent asks me.

"Well, The dummy didn't kill me. That's a plus." I huff. Vincent laughs and plops down next to me, turning the television on and watching the news. It's mostly about us. I'm surprised at how much the capitol actually likes me.

"Don't count yourself out just yet. By the way, how opposed are you to your hair being dyed?" He asks.

"Not very. I don't care what they do to my hair." I shrug.

"You know you look like him." Vincent nods like he just proved a point.

"I look like who?" I turn to him.

"You'r father. you'll look more like him during the games, if Ari has her way." He smiles and continues to watch the tv.

**I am really bad at ending so here it is. End of this chapter. **

**Any ways!**

**Thank you to editinggenious and Dreamer's Avenue for their reviews! keep them coming! ;)**


	8. Scores :bonus chapter

That night I fidget through dinner, through the casual talk, through everything. The training is over. The games are coming closer, I am not ready. I am good with weapons, against stationary targets. I am a decent fighter, I was a soldier seven years ago, but could I kill innocent people, people I have come to know and care for? Everyone at home thought I was a ten year old cry baby. We all lost others in the war. Little did they know I was not ten. I was twenty and that was why I cried and wined so much. I am not ready for this.

Ii sit on the couch and pull my legs up to my chest, rubbing my eyes on my knees. Since I chose the end seat that puts Vincent to my right and Amelia takes the armchair to my left. She is in her own personal crisis at this point. She thought she would be the most popular. Sadly, I am. She sits much like I do, but has to cross her ankles because her skirt doesn't cover her all the way. The pink frilly skirt and white shirt make her look innocent and scared. For a moment I want to hug her close. She glares at me.

"What are you looking at, Wolf-face?" She asks me. I smile. She huffs and turns away again, flipping her hair out of her face.

Marian walks in and starts jabbering on about how excited everyone is for our numbers. Vincent tries to keep the conversation directed away from Amelia and I as Marian sits to his right. She wants to question us but Vincent knows how nervous we both are. I know I am still fidgety and Amelia is chewing her lip bloody and about to tear the hem off her skirt.

When the television screen changes to the head game maker we both shift in our seats and stare at it. I still don't know his name, but he scares the living daylights out of me. I fix my pants and drop one leg to the ground, still hugging the other as he starts to explain what this entire show will mean. Vincent touches my arm and I jump almost out of the chair, causing Amelia to laugh.

"Oh yeah, funny guys!" I yell. Vincent had originally looked worried but now is trying not to laugh as well. I turn my head to Amelia, "Oh yeah? Think that's funny!" I jump from my seat and she screams and jumps up to run from me. She runs around and stands behind the couch. I grin and jump over it, leaving a footprint on the headrest. She tries to run but I grab her by the waist and spin her around. She grabs the hand Vincent is offering her and I hear her laughing, truly laughing, and I laugh and throw her onto the couch.

"Well, I never!" Marian huffs. I walk around and flop onto the seat Amelia had been in, trying to stop laughing. The voice on the TV catches out attention.

"_And now, to the tributes."_ He says. As he goes along clips of us spin around, cross our arms and freeze in the same pose. I remember the photo shoot very vaguely, seeing as it was during our training sessions and I did it as fast as I could. Then there is a short drum roll and our scores come up next to our faces and we turn to look at them before our image freezes again.

The district one boy and girl both got twos but district two got a ten and eleven. Glad they are on my team for the first eight kills, at least. District three got a nine and a four. My breath catches in my throat when my image comes up and I strike the pose and a silver nine appears next to me. I feel like I am choking, drowning, dying right there, as I stare at the number. _Nine, how could they give me a nine_?

Amelia comes up and strikes the pose and we all almost fall out of our seats at the silver eleven. At this point I don't know if she is actually trying to be mean or has just snapped as she rips out a roaring laugh that pierces the air like a deadly knife. It is a knife. With that one laugh all I hear is her betrayal. Ii try so hard to smile at her and congratulate her.

"A nine and an eleven, That is great, you two, just wonderful. My best friend Stephan says that they are more likely to survive with the lowest number they can get but I say the higher you go the better." Marian starts to babble. I drop my smile and curl my upper lip, my nose wrinkling as I try to keep the tears out of my eyes. I stand up and bid them goodnight, slowly walking to the balcony that is provided for us. I inhale the air and look down to the street five floors below.

I feel a hand on my back. At first I think it's Marian, but when I turn it's the one person I do not want to be there. Amelia doesn't smile, doesn't smirk , or growl, or yell. Her face looks like she is about to cry. I huff and lean my elbows on the railing. She hugs me and lays her head between my shoulder blades.

"What …" My voice sounds weak so I clear my throat, "What do you want, Ami?" I ask quietly.

"I am so sorry. I know you deserved better than a nine. They were just judgeing you on the chariot ride." She mutters. I shake my head.

"Yeah, the one that you sabotaged?" I whisper, not sure if my voice would hold up if I spoke out loud.

"I'm sorry. I'm scared. I have to go home. My mother is dying and I know I am really witchy and I haven't changed a bit, but it is for completely unwitchy reasons. I just want to tell you, I am going to do whatever I can to get home. If I don't…" She buries her face in my spine, "Mallorin, take care of my mother."

It feels like a sledgehammer to my chest. _Is she serious? Seriously?_ Her mother is sick, I know that, but is that why she is acting this way. I pull her arms off me and step away, shaking my head.

"I don't know what to do anymore." I mutter.

"Help me." She whispers. I spin around angrily and ball my hands in fists.

"I promised I would, didn't I? _You_ and you alone are the one not helping yourself. I want to be alone. Go inside." I yell at her. She looks down at the floor, her hair falling in her face.

"You did promise." She leapt forward and hugged me again, knocking me into the wall again. I inhaled and tried to calm myself down, "I am so sorry, Mallorin." For once I think she is truly sad for me. She buries her head in my chest. Ii shake my head and lace a hand into her hair, leaning my other free hand on the railing as I look out over the Capitol. The _beautiful_ Capitol.

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	9. Love

"_Mallorin, I told you this would happen." She yells at me as the rain starts to pour just beyond the edge of the porch we stand on._

"_Told me what would happen?" I ask. I can't see her face since the moon peaking from behind the clouds silhouettes her so well._

"_I said for you to tell her no or else she would chase you until she is the one you wake up in the morning thinking about." She spins on her heals and storms down the steps._

"_I don't wake up thinking about her!" I yell, "What are you talking about?" _

"_You go to sleep thinking about her so why wouldn't you wake thinking about her?" She yells. I leap over the steps, the rain plastering my hair and clothes to me as I run after her._

"_I don't understand why me talking to Amelia means we can't be friends anymore!" I yell._

"_Because I wanted to be more than friends!" She screams in my face. It feels like a sledgehammer thrusting me into deep water. I stand in the pouring rain watching her sprint into the darkness._

* * *

I jump awake and almost throw Amelia into the floor. She rubs her eyes with the sheet she has balled up in her fist, her other arm is across my waist, holding her up.

"What is wrong with you?" She mumbles to me.

"I was having a nightmare." I rub my hair out of my eyes

"Tell me about it?" She asks.

"Can't, I'm sorry." How could I tell her that it was her fault.

"Well, might as well get up for our stylists." She meanders out of my room and then I dress in silence and try to be happy during breakfast but conversation dies down quickly. We eat in silence and then we go to the rooms set up for our stylists.

They are all strangely quiet and after about five minutes I throw my arms up to make them stop.

"What is wrong? Please tell me what is going on." It is very rare for Capitol people to be silent.

"Amelia told her stylist that we annoyed you both so we were being quiet." Abram sighed.

"She lied. I love talking to you guys." This makes them erupt. They hug me and start talking like they never stopped. I try to keep up with them for a while but I settle for just smiling and nodded when I'm allowed. They pour dye on my head and make me sit as they put a gel of sorts on my face to keep hair from growing in the arena. Finally Ari arrives and all the others leave so Ari can do her work. As she washes my hair and dries it she asks me questions about my life and what I feel about being here. Halfway through drying my hair and styling it I realize she is preparing me for the interview.

She helps me dress and let me look in the mirror. A turquoise dress shirt and black tie with a grey suit and a black coat that hangs just below my knees. My now black hair sticks up in the front and my left eye is accented with deep blue stones that make a small blue wave.

"I look very sophisticated!" I smile at Ari and Vincent leans in the door.

"It's time guys." He, Ari, Amelia, her stylist and I all walk to the elevator together and the rest of the way I am enthralled by Amelia's beauty.

She has on a corset top and matching tulle skirt the color of the sky reflected on water. There is about an inch of space between the articles of clothing. Blue and silver stones are glued to her tan stomach to accent her navel. It waves up and seems to flow onto her shirt and skirt. She wears her scarf like a choker and lets it flow down her back. Her hair is pulled up in a ponytail, hair falling down her left shoulder bringing attention to the light blue, dark blue and silver stones accenting her blue eye makeup and creating another wave onto her forehead.

They line us up under the stage in the order we go on. Girls first then guys go up for the interviews. We all turn to a televisions set up on the wall next to us as Caesar Flickermen greets the crowd. His sea green hair clashes with the navy blue suit he wears.

"He's going to clash with us like crazy." I chuckle.

We watch as the first interviews start. District one, district two, then district three. I get more and more nervous as my name draws closer and closer.

"And now from district four, Amelia!" Caesar calls. Amelia grabs my hand and starts to hyperventilate.

"I can't do this!" She cries out. I lean down and kiss her cheek.

"You're beautiful. Get out there and prove it." I whisper, giving her hand a squeeze. She nods and turns to me and we kiss for a moment before she runs on the stage. I feel awful for that kiss, but it gives her confidence she wouldn't have before.

"Amelia! How gorgeous you are!" I watch Caesar greet Amelia on the tv and he helps her sit, "So tell us, what has this been like?" She is nervous at first but as the questions go on she gets better until she is laughing with him and making jokes.

"I never thought I would have so many emotions at once but my body is like, ' You are a woman!' and as much as I don't like it, every emotion bears itself on me all the time and I am just so happy to be one of the first!" She says with a smile. Caesar nods, still smiling and helps her stand out of the small white chair.

"Amelia, district four!" He lifts her hand up and then she's down the stairs, "Please welcome her male counterpart, Mallorin, district four!" I freeze for a moment but someone shoves me and I find myself walking up the stairs. He introduces me to the crowd and we sit down.

"So, Mallorin, we have seen some pretty intense emotions from your part, can you tell us about this?" He asks me.

"W-well, nothing really has happened to me that was this intense. I thought being in the courtyard at school was a crowd. When I came here there is so much noise. I just had to get used to it. I would like to thank my stylist, prep team and mentor for helping me get over that." I wave to the crowd and hope they are out there.

"Well, would any of this have to do with a girl, hmm, maybe?" He smiles at the crowd and they all cheer, my face reddens, "Oh, it does, do tell!" He smiles to me and I smile back.

"Well, it's complicated." I chuckle.

"Who does the gorgeous Mallorin love?" He nudges my arm.

"Who is the girl you love? Everybody asks me that. I used to think it was Amelia, the girl from my district. As I got to know her I found she was more of a friend." I wink at the camera, hoping she sees me," Then I met this girl Gina. She is gorgeous and is here with me, I hope to help her as much as I can in there. The thing is the girl I love hates me." I sigh and look back at the camera, "And now I may never get a chance to tell her I was an idiot and I'm sorry."

The crowd goes wild. They all start crying and cheering for me, yelling my name. I smile sadly and stare at my hands. I wish so much to tell her that in person.

"Awe, well how about this, you win and she will be waiting for you." Caesar tries to get me pepped up again so I smile at him.

"At least I don't have to break up with my girlfriend now." I smile.

"And why not?" Caesar leans over to me.

"Because…" I lean closer to him like I'm telling him a secret, "She isn't the one I'm talking about." This makes everybody laugh. I don't know how these Capitol people could think this crap is good entertainment, "Sorry." I shrug and the buzzer goes off for me to finish. He stands and lifts my hand in the air and then I'm making my way down the stairs.

At the foot of the stairs someone grabs my wrist and pulls me into another hallway and slaps me. I grab my face and step back.

"What was that?" Amelia asks me.

"I answered his questions. What do you mean what was that?" I ask.

"Just tear everyone up as you go down in flames. That your intentions? Leave your girlfriend lonely and rejected, friend zone me on public television, and making up a girl so any women who want to sponsor you will completely ignore you! Great job with that one!" She crosses her arms and stares at the floor angrily. I put a finger on her chin and make her look up.

"If I remember correctly, I was friend zoned by you once the popularity wore off." I grin and she shoves me away from her, storming off, her sparkly heals clicking on the tile as she leaves. I sigh and lean against the wall behind me. _This is going to be fun._

**Well this was fun! after it getting deleted all three times I wrote it, I finally found it on a random flash drive I thought I lost. Here you go! Last chapter before the 1st ever Hunger Games! Excited? I am!**

**Reviews?**


	10. Arena

I take a deep breath and look around. No one else is awake; at least I think they aren't. My theory is proven wrong when I walk out onto the balcony and hear a light sobbing. Amelia is in a bench at the far left of the door, hugging herself and crying. She spots me and makes a strangled growling noise.

"What do you want!" She wails at me, pulling her robe closer around her.

"I couldn't sleep. I was hoping to come out and get some fresh air and a drink or two. I'm sorry if I disturbed you." I turned, one foot in the door, when she stood up.

"No, wait, don't go, I mean, can I come with you, I mean, I sound so pathetic." She huffs, "I had a nightmare. I calm down faster when I'm with you."

"Yeah, you can come with me, under one condition." I raise my index finger to her.

"What?" she snaps.

"Don't try to kill me until morning, it's against the rules." I wink at her and walk back to my room , her struggling to stay close to me. If it is scary for me it must be terrifying for an actual seventeen year old, especially a girl. Once in my room I sit on the bed and take my shirt off.

"I have a question for you." She says.

"Ask away." She sits on my lap and drapes her arms around my neck, "Whoa, last time this happened I lost hair." She pulls me into a deep kiss, her fingers lacing into my hair, now harder to grasp because Ari shortened it when she dyed it. Just barely past my jawline now instead of down to my shoulders.

"I like your hair better this way." She whispers as it falls in our faces.

"Do you?" I ask, trying to put a little distance between us.

"Mallorin, I don't want to die…" She starts and I shook my head.

"You're not going to die." She puts a finger on my lips and shakes her head, an evil grin spreading across her face.

"I don't want to die a virgin." She whispers into my ear, her lips barely brushing my jawline. I try not to laugh out loud.

"Amelia." I take her face gently in my hands, making eye contact with her.

"What?' She pouts.

"I'm not a virgin." I wait for it to sink it and she flings my arms off before punching me in the face and leaving. I wait until I hear the door slam down the hall before I bust out laughing. Was that her last try to get on my good side, or was she serious and I made a joke out of it?

I sleep restlessly for the rest of my last night outside the arena and wake exhausted but ready. Amelia completely ignores me as we eat and leave to get on the hovercraft to take us to the arena.

They call for us and I see Amelia board her hovercraft before mine lands. Ari promises to be there in the prep room. I shake Vincent's hand and he pulls me into a hug then I turn and take a deep breath as a ladder is dropped to me. I grab the ladder and it feels like I am frozen in some gelatinous goo. The ladder pulls me up and once I am in the peacekeepers walk up to me and stab my cheek with the biggest needle I have ever seen. The woman one smiles.

"This is your tracking chip. Whenever you look at a camera, your district number will show up on the television screen. Sort of like a sensor." She shows me a television and it's almost like a mirror, other than the '4' hovering over my right cheek. I rub the spot and the '4' is visible over my hand. I nod and smile, my nerves starting to take hold. We ride for about an hour before the windows black out. They don't want us to see the arena beforehand.

When the door does open I am escorted through a tunnel underground and into a room they call my prep room. Ari is waiting for me, as promised. I smile weakly and sit in the chair provided, guzzling as much water as will go in my mouth as she speaks to me.

I stand shaking in my prep room after an hour's lecture about staying hydrated. Ari helps me look over my choice of clothing and tells me what everything could possibly do and what they could mean in the arena. I take everything she says to heart. Ii could be going to my death, but I am going down swinging. At least I know the ones that are being called "The Careers" are on my side. Not sure what that means yet. I dress quietly and Ari explains one more time what my clothing could mean.

"Fishnet shirt and thin pants probably mean there will be water. The fact that you have jeans over your pants and a shirt to go over the first outfit means it might get cold at night. Your jacket will hold in body heat but also lets it out if you need it to. Expect cold and hot days." She makes sure my hair is going to stay standing for a while and grins, "You are going to do fine."

I take another deep chug of water and let out something between a cough and sigh as I look in the mirror. My hair is so dark brown it appears black now and it is shorter then I have ever worn it. It sticks up in the front and out from my forehead about two inches and the rest of it lays down the way it is supposed to. My jeans have many pockets that I know are lined with leather to keep knifes from ripping through and food from staining. My fishnet shirt is short sleeve and made of a silver material that I know will protect my skin from the sun because I use it at home. There are two patches, one with my name and one with my district. The district is round and the name is square, but I ignore all these details and stare at my token, my trident, from my stepmother.

"Oh, Ari." My voice is ragged and deep, like an old dying wolf's growl, "I can't do this." I mutter. She leans up and draws lines of eyeliner on me and smiles.

"You look like a hungry wolf, and sound like a natural survivor, from the stories I hear. You'll be fine. Remember your training and you'll be fine. " Suddenly a loud siren goes off and a red light starts flashing.

"_All tributes to their loading docks."_ A mechanical voice orders. My hands feel clammy as I put my shirt and jacket on, mentally preparing myself. I finish my last bottle of water and step onto the disk. Slowly a tube rises around me and I try to breathe as I slowly start to rise. I look up at the small hole of light above me and let out a cry as I am shot into the bright sunlight and my tube lowers. I block the sun with my hand and squint in the unbearable sunlight.

"_Stay on your disk for eighty seconds after the gong." _The voice orders. They have to go through the rules. There really aren't any. I start to look around.

We are on tall buildings about fifty or so feet in the air. I recognize them as cement mills. They have two sets of stairs on each side and conveyor belts that run down each side. There are six of these buildings with four tributes on each corner. About five or so feet away from the buildings is the cornucopia hanging in the air like a golden horn. Everything you might need is there. I look over the edge to find water below us, quickly rising in crashing waves to about fifteen feet up the sides and rising. High tide is coming in. To my right is a sort of shore, not sure how far away from the buildings. A fall into the water would be nasty but wouldn't kill you, other than the buildings that used to be a town that are under us and under the water.

I turn my attention to the shore and see white sand for about half a mile then a steep incline to harsh, dry vegetation. It continues for about a mile or so then an overgrown city can be seen and nothing more beyond but trees, lots of trees. This is my territory.

The gong sounds and I count to eighty and turn to the other three on my platform. The boy from five runs and jumps onto the conveyor belt and I don't take time to watch him plummet. Beth runs full on at me and knocks me over, my head over the edge as she tries to strangle me. I kick her in the gut and shove her off. I stand up and turn around, stepping back taking two steps forward, and I leap for the cornucopia with all my might, arms stretched in front of me, reaching for the only thing that could sustain my life.

My hands catch the hot cements and I feel my shoulders snap as my weight swings onto them. I almost swing to the point I am horizontal and my fingers slip. I bite my lip and look down at the waves, not yet high enough to catch my fall, yet.

"Alright, Dad, this is for you." I start to heave myself up a little at a time. I am on my stomach, about to swing my legs up when something collides with my face and I slide off the cement, my chin hitting the side, scraping across it then up my lower lip as I struggle to get grasp again, my fingers barely holding on. I look up as my legs swing frantically and see the girl from district five, knife in hand. She shakes her head sadly and stabs my left hand. I cry out but don't lose grasp as she pulls the blade free and lifts it above her head to stab me again. I close my eyes and wait for the inevitable.

**Cliffhanger anyone?**

**Reviews, although I am a little scared of what they will hold.**


	11. Day One

**Alright IlLuSiOnRuSsIaN I am a little predictable, will give you that. Sorry for the cliffhanger guys. ;D**

I hear Five girl, I can't remember her name, make a noise in her throat and there is weight on my left foot. I am about to lose grip when someone grabs my hand and I am able to look down long enough to kick the girl off of me before Greisen lifts me up onto the cornucopia. I lay there and breath for just a moment then stand up and run with greisen to the cornucopia.

"Are you injured?" I ask.

"Not as bad as you are. Look for a first aid kit of any kind. I'm going to keep an eye on our backs, you look for anything useful, then we switch." He has a broad sword ready but no one is fit enough to get over here. Many of our allies have fallen and are climbing back up the stairs or fighting below. I get as many weapons as I can before I grab a backpack and start to fill it with food and more weapons. I jolt when Gina dives into the cornucopia to find more weapons and then the rest of our group is there, arming themselves.

"Switch me!" I yell, drawing a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other.

"I'll cover your left side!" Gina yells, noticing the blood on my left hand. So much adrenaline is pumping through me that I don't even feel the wound. Now they are getting smart. They see how the others got across and are trying to come across. The guy from nine comes across in front of me and just slams into me. I am lifted into the air and tossed like a rag doll, the air being knocked from me. I lay there and try to breath, each breath a stabbing pain as Gina does a backhand spring, kicks nine in the face and then stands up and stabs him in the chest just before tossing him over the edge.

The girl from three tries to be smooth and jumps across in nine's wake, trying to take a knife to Gina's throat. She wraps an arm around Gina's neck and Gina knocks the knife away, but she is about to pass out. So I stand and take out the one hammer I found, heavy in my hand, and put it in my dominant hand. I stand and rush over and smash her skull, pushing her over the edge. I pull Gina over to the cornucopia.

"Greisen! Cover me! Amelia, watch her while you scavenge!" I command, taking my sword in my dominant hand again. Greisen stands to my left and I hear him yell as he cuts district one boy across the abdomen. District one lifts his sword and is about to take Greisen out when I stab him in the heart and let him drop off the edge.

I see Greisen's partner, Lola, fighting someone and about to be shoved off the edge. It takes a moment for me to register she is an ally. I run over to her and stab the other person through the nape of the neck so that Lola doesn't plummet with the body. I pull her up and un-skewer the district three boy from my sword. I turn around in time to see an arrow in bed itself in district six girl's neck. I take no time and stab her with a knife I had replaced my heavy hammer with. I just leave the knife in her body as she falls. I have over twenty of those.

I see the district six boy standing on the building across from the cornucopia but he just seems to be contemplating us. He starts down the stairs, trying to psych us out, but I know he is bunking three floors down with the boy from eight. I slump against the cornucopia as the pain starts to set in. Sweat pours down my face and my arm starts to shake. My legs grow weak and I slide to the floor. I stare around at all the blood puddles and splash everywhere. Most of it I spilled. Actually I spilled all of it, with the aid of the others. I close my eyes and lean back against the cornucopia.

"Where…did you…learn to fight…. Like that?" Gina asks me, moving to sit next to me. I open my eyes and look at her, my head spinning as she tries to calm her breathing, choking in between words.

"I was a soldier in the rebellion when I was younger." I tell her.

"That's a lie." Amelia sits next to me, just as exhausted as I am.

"So what supplies do we have?" I ask.

"Everything, apples, water, sleeping bags, seven pillows, bread, some meat that won't last, weapons of every kind, a few first aid kits, four tents, two shields, some bows and arrows, and a lot more." She waves her hand in dismissal.

"Well, I would very much like one of those first aid kits." I smile but it is soon wiped off my face when a cannon goes off in the distance. I jump to my feet and look around but no one else does. Amelia is counting each one as it goes off and I remember what they are for. They couldn't go off until we had stopped the bloodbath and they could tally the deaths.

"…Three, four, five dead in all." Amelia sighs in relief and I know how she feels. Suddenly I feel light headed and I lean over but miss the cornucopia and fall onto my face. Gina rolls me over and starts checking my pulse as Amelia grabs a first aid kit.

"too much blood lost from his hand." Gina yells.

"Only you could get a cut and turn it into a fatal wound." Amelia scolds me. I smile and close my eyes but Gina smacks me.

"No sleeping right now. Let me get you stabilized first!" I hear them messing with the kit then Gina sighs, "Amelia, I need you to hold his head so that he will stay still." Amelia moves up above me and puts my head in her lap.

"This is probably going to hurt." She smiles and I feel the needle bite into my skin. The knife wound is deeper than we anticipated and I literally have lost a ton of blood. Gina sows me up like a pro and I grimace as I feel my face cooling down. They pitch a tent over me and when Gina thinks I'm stable enough I fall asleep with my head in Amelia's lap, everyone around us talking quietly as the sun goes down.

When the anthem starts to play we open the tent and stare at the sky as all the fallen start to show up in large pictures on the sky.

Boy from one,skips to boy then girl of three, skips to girl of six, then skips to boy of nine. The anthem plays again and then it stops and the night falls silent other than the animals in the area and the waves crashing below. Tide must be real low with how quiet they are.

"I'll take first watch." Greisen offers, "Then Beth, Gina, Amelia, Hair, Lola, then Mallorin. We sleep as long as we can today and through tomorrow, understand? Take about four hours each. You can tell because this tide comes in and goes out every two hours. Sleep well."

"I'll watch with you. I can see farther away and can attack sooner with my arrows than you can with your axe." With that Beth leaves the tent with Greisen. Amelia readjusts and at first I am laying with my head on her stomach. I wrap my arms around her waist and flip us over making her squeak.

"Night, ladies." I smile and everyone laughs except Hair,that's what we call the guy from seven, who is the only other guy in the tent.

**Thank** **you editinggenious, Dreamer's Avenue and IlLuSiOnRuSsIan for your reviews. I must be very predictive. Thanks for reviewing.**

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	12. Day Two

**IlLuSiOnRuSsIan you are funny. Maybe he is hairy! O.o Thanks for reviewing!**

About halfway through the second watch, Beth rips open the tent flap. We all sit up and she is yelling but we can't hear her over the wind ripping at the tent and the rain pelting the side. I crawl out to her and she has to hug me around the neck to keep from being pushed over. He yelling sounds like whispers as they are stolen by the wind.

"The Gamemakers!" She yells. I nod and turn around, her short red hair whipping me in the face as the wind shifts then shifts again.

"Amelia! Get everything into the cornucopia! Greisen! Pack the tent up! Everyone else needs to stand guard around us, facing the other buildings! This is a perfect time for someone to attack us!" I yell as loud as I can. My deep voice booms over the area then is whipped away like Beth's.

Lola and Gina take the front while hair and I circle around to the sides. Greisen puts the tent away and runs to where I am, axe in hand. He looks around and then nods in the direction of the third building. There are two figures barely visible on the roof. After a few minutes they retreat to the lower floors.

"They saw us! We can't stand out here all night!" He yells above the roar, "How are we going to tell when the sun comes up?"

"I don't know!" I yell, flipping my hair out of my face. The rain is painful on the side that is facing it. We try to huddle close as we watch the other buildings around us. I hear screaming and touch Greisen's arm as I run to the other direction. I jump over Beth's limp form and run to Gina's aid. If Beth is alive I have to come back to her. Gina elbows her attacker and he lets go of her and stumbles back and grabs her hair. I throw a knife and it hits him in the chest but he grabs another chunk of her hair and she starts to stumble back. They are both about to teater over the edge when an arrow imbeds itself in his neck.

I think it's Beth who shoots the arrow, but when I turn I remember Beth is on the ground unconscious or dead. Amelia drops the bow and starts checking Beth's vitals. I turn back around and see Gina standing there with hair to her ears whipping around her face as she covers her face with her hands. I walk up to her and hug her as she cries.

"What happened?" I ask her, still yelling over the rain.

"He wouldn't let go! I had to cut it off with a knife!" She shakes her head then jumps when the cannon goes off.

"Come on, let's check Beth." When we make it over to her she is sitting up.

"I am so sorry, Gina! I didn't even see him coming!" Beth growls.

"It's alright. Amelia and Mal got him." Gina nudges me and smiles at Amelia. We help Beth to the cornucopia and Gina fixes up the cut on her forehead. The sun rises and the rain slowly stops and the clouds clear and the heat slams into us like an oven.

"The cornucopia isn't safe. It will cook us. We have to go to one of the buildings or sit outside and risk getting sunburned." Hair says. I think this is the first time I have ever heard him speak.

"He's right. We either go to another building or the sun is going to cook us in our own skin." Beth says, "Let's split up and go over to the buildings and come back here at night to get out of the cold." She suggests.

"No, the only problem is our faces." I say Amelia sits up and turns to look at me. She had been leaning against my chest as I sat against the side of the cornucopia, "The silver fishnet shirts we have on protect from sunburn. They are weaved into the pants under our jeans. The only issue is our faces. Most of us have hair we can use for most of the day, others of us don't. We need to find something to put on our faces."

We all start looking through the pile of stuff but no one finds any sunscreen. My hair sticks to my face as sweat pours down my body. I smile at Gina and then glance at Amelia. She really doesn't like Gina. Finally we all give up on sunscreen and head out into the open air around the cornucopia. I sit down at the edge and let my legs hang over as a breeze whooshes over me. Gina sits on one side of me, hugging one leg and letting the other hang over the edge. She smiles and lays her head on her knee, her hair flying in all directions as she smiles at me.

"Amelia doesn't like me." She says.

"No, no she doesn't." I look out over the water to the beach.

"Why is that? You two are strange around each other, but I can't place what is going on." She looks over the water and pulls her legs up.

"Well, what can I say? A year or so ago we started going out. After about six months she realized the feelings she had were not the ones she thought and she broke it off. At that point I had started missing my best friend and I was going to break up with Amelia so that we would talk again. She still hasn't talked to me in over a year." I nod to the sky and sigh.

I see movement to my left and turn to see Hair jump across the buildings and landing on top of someone. They stand up and Hair stabs the person in the side but the person he attack stabs him in the leg. Then a third figure stands up and shoves them both over. I hear cannon fire before they hit the water and hold my breath until I see Hair resurface and swim to one of the staircases. I step back and the girl turns to me. It's five. Doll, I think the capitol calls her.

"What are you doing!" I yell, "We were allies! I was going to help you! And your brother!" Suddenly she leaps across and we are standing nose to nose. That's how she got her high score. She jumped that like it was nothing. I take a step back and lean back as she leans over me.

"Where is he?" She asks, snarls, in my face.

"Where is who?" I yell, standing back up to my full height.

"My brother!" She grabs my throat and catches me off guard by her strength. She turns us around and I and leaning over the edge.

"What are you talking about!" I yell.

"He was on your platform! I thought you had killed him! Where is he?" She asks, pushing me further over.

"He went down the conveyor belt and swam! I haven't seen him since I jumped!" I try to fight to get loose.

"I believe you. I am going to pull you back over, under one condition." She puts her index finger in my face.

"One condition?" I ask.

"When you all stop playing house, you have to help me find my brother. Chad should not be here, it was a mistake." She stares into my eyes and I weigh my options. Say no, plummet. I could survive but would be painful.

"I had intended to help you all anyway. By the way, thank you for taking out eight for us. Hair appreciates it." I smile and she sets me back upright then shoves me to the ground before jumping back across to the tower then off the side and into the water. I lay on my stomach and glance over the side in time to see her start swimming to the shore.

"That was odd." I mutter.

"What was odd?" Beth asks before sitting down next to me. I catch a glimpse of Hair climbing the stairs in the tower.

"Nothing really, just watched as Hair saved five girl and got knocked over the edge, then five girl threatened me and left. I feel like I have some really reliable allies, seeing as the cannon went off and no one came looking." I shrug.

"We thought you could handle yourself. No one yelled so we thought it was out in the woods someone died." She shrugs and smiles at me, "Why are you on your stomach?"

"Looking at the water." I answer and we both bust out laughing as Greisen and Amelia walk over and sit with us, using each other's backs as rests, one leg over the edge each.

"What are you two laughing at?" Amelia asks, since she is the one facing us.

"The fact that I was shoved in the water after being stabbed and no one came in after me!" Hair yells from across at the other building.

"How did you climb so fast?" I ask, sitting up on my elbows to look over at him, trying not to laugh at the fact his hair is still sticking up.

"I don't know. Can someone help me?" He asks. I grin and everyone around me tries to hide a laugh.

"You're going to have to jump." I stand up and motion him with my hands, "come on, I'll catch you."

"Not happening." Hair shakes his head.

"Then I guess you're staying over there. We can send Gina to stitch you up but she's coming back." I shrug and drop my hands. Suddenly hair sighs and leaps across and slams into me. I regret how much I have been knocked to the ground the past few days.

"I hate you all!" Hair stands up and limps away to find Gina as we sit in a group laughing. The sun starts to set and the anthem starts to play it skips right to the boy from six then to the boy from eight. As we sit and talk I start to realize that our alliance will be over with one more death. One more person dies and we have to run. I just hope that Amelia runs with me and doesn't stay to fight me.


	13. End of Alliance

Hair's leg isn't as bad as we thought so he's wandering around checking for intruders. Every four hours we switch watch even though it is almost impossible to do anything in the pelting rain. I can't imagine how hard this will be to stand down on the island. I just hope I don't have to jump into that water. The way Hair explained it was awful. You fall for five minutes, but that seems like forever, into freezing water that burns your eyes and any cuts you have. After you hit you try to resurface and get sucked under or smashed over the head. If you can swim it's horrible. If you can't swim it is terrifying.

Finally during my watch the sun starts to rise. We all heave a sigh of relief but worry starts to set in. Many are thinking about leaving before our alliance is over, not necessarily breaking the alliance but postponing it. We all know it is almost over. I continue to walk around the cornucopia and realize there is movement in at least three of the buildings. I pretend I don't see it as I walk along, quickening my pace. I make it back to the front and I lean over to Greisen.

"Hey man, come do a sweep with me." I say. He nods and we start to walk around and I motion for him to arm himself. He picks up an axe, his new favorite weapon. We walk for a while and I point discreetly to the movement and he bows his head. When we make it all the way around he starts to silently warn the others. Gina and Amelia are a little bit away talking to each other. They both smile at me but Amelia recognizes the look on my face and her smile drops.

"Amelia." I kneel down next to them, "When that cannon goes off, meet me on the beach. If I don't make it to the beach within an hour of you arriving, leave."

"What's going on?" Gina asks.

"The others are surrounding us. We are going to have to fight them. Gina, can you swim?" I ask.

"No, I was never taught how." She shakes her head and glances at the edge.

"Then stay with me. Make sure no matter what that we are together." I grab her hand and nod o Amelia who follows us over to the side the intruders are on. A girl makes to jump across and Greisen decapitates her before she can even make it over and the sickening cannon goes off. Strangely, none of us start attacking each other. We only attack the intruders in the fray.

A girl and a guy jump over and start attacking us. Greisen starts fighting them, getting kicked in the face a few times but dealing his own blows but Hair jumps up in the air and kicks the boy in the head before imbedding a knife in her side and dropping her. He turns and leaps over to another building and is almost knocked over the edge when a larger girl tries to grab a hold of him. Two knifes from two different directions hit her and she falls and Hair shoves his way past his two saviors before they realize what has happened. It's the boy and girl from five. They aren't in alliance with us, but they aren't here to hurt us. When this fight is over they want some supplies.

"Amelia, now!" She jumps off the side and I drag Gina to the other side, hopeing that jumping away from the group won't attract attention. I hug her close to me, "Trust me." Then I jump, my arms around her as we fall so she is in the right form to keep from injuring herself.

After what seems to be ages, we hit the water, feet first. We sink a good distance but my feet touch a sunken building and I am able to push us to the surface where we gasp in just barely enough air before we are shoved under again by a wave. Ii push to the surface and hold her up long enough to get her to hug my neck then we dive a few feet before I start to swim toward the shore. She tries not to freak out every time a wave hits us and sends us spinning under the water.

I swim for a good thirty minutes before a wave takes me down and I slam into the ground. I relies this means we are close to shore. I push up and forward and I am soon able to walk up to water about as deep as my waist. I get knocked to my knees from exhaustion but Gina leaps off my back and helps me stand and we stumble up just out of the wake and fall onto the white sand. I somehow land in the sand face first and this causes Gina to laugh as loud as she can.

"What are you laughing at?" I smile up at Amelia who has sat down next to me.

"You!" I answer before flipping over, "When did you get here?" I ask.

"A bit before you did. We better get off the beach. I watched Hair run off into the woods a while ago and I saw some people jump from the cornucopia. We better get into the woods." She helps me stand and I clasp hands with Gina. I realize we only have a few weapons and no backpacks.

"We left everything!" I say, exasperated.

"We all excelled at edible plants and I am sure one of us can hunt. Come on." Amelia grabs my free hand and almost drags me and Gina along. The plants are all dry and cut our legs and arms as we run. Eventually these thin out and we run into some taller trees. Amelia tries to stop at sundown.

"We have to keep going." I huff.

"Why? We have been going all day! The trees will cover us." Amelia protests even though she is starting to shiver like Gina and I are. Rain starts to pelt us from above. It doesn't sting as bad since we are down on the ground and not in the air.

"We will freeze out here. I saw buildings when we were up on the cornucopia. We hear the anthem going off and the rain stops as we all look through the trees to see who all died.

The girl from seven and eight then it jumps to the two tributes from ten and the anthem plays then the rain picks up where it left off.

"They control the weather." Gina whispers.

"Yeah, this arena was an abandoned town that they flooded. We were lucky that we didn't land on a building when we jumped. I thought we were going to." I smile and Gina smacks me.

"I trusted you!" She yells.

"You didn't get hurt did you?" I shrug.

"But I could have!" She yells again, this time Amelia makes a "Sh." Noise at her.

"I wouldn't have let you." I answer as we draw close to a building. I pull the sword off my belt and let go of Gina's hand as I walk forward. I kick in the door and look in the building. The first room is clear. I start down the hall and almost jump out of my skin when Gina touches my shoulder, "Be careful." I hiss.

"Sorry. You take right, I'll go left, Amelia will continue on." She informs me. I nod and swing to the right and kick a door in. I look around the room to find no one in my room. I hear Amelia kick her door in.

"Clear." She yells. I hear Gina scream at the same time she does and we run into the room she had walked into. She is standing over a boy who is choking on his own blood from his slit throat. She drops the bloody knife and covers her face. Amelia takes her out of the room, talking softly to her and trying to comfort her. I flip my hair out of my eyes as the boy stops struggling. I realize that for them to get the body we have to be nowhere near it, like not in the building. I take his backpack over my shoulder, wherever he got that from, and search for weapons before I drag him out the back door.

The cannon goes off as I reenter the house and we hear a loud whooshing noise then the area goes back to just rain. We all sit in the living room resting our backs against each other. We sleep through most of day four and when the anthem plays that night only one picture comes up and we all know it was the boy Gina killed from eleven.

We pack up and move further inland and do the same for another house we hear the cannon go off two times during day five but we sleep through the rest of the day, taking turns watching the door. When the anthem comes on we start to head to the next house. The girl from eleven and the boy from twelve are gone. Only ten of us left, and most of us are from the alliance. Maybe we all still feel a little weary of killing each other.

**_IlLuSiOnRuSsIaN_, Nice star wars reference. Not sure I like language used. Not sure if you like Hair or not...**

**Hair should love all around _editinggenious_. Originally I intended him to be like johanna Mason but not many people left for him to go "ape" on.**

**Thank you both for your reviews!**

**More reviews are welcome!**


	14. Day Six

On day six I start to feel the dehydration setting in. The little bit of rain water we have collected is not enough for the three of us to last during the blistering heat. I glance up at one point and stop, the girls running dead into me. Ii dislodge the hammer from my belt and stare at the amber eyed creature staring at us.

"You two, back up." I whisper as I asses the creature. It has a long catlike body and gold fur with a white muzzle. The black ears twitch whenever we move. I take a step back and it starts to make a deep feral noise in its chest as its mouth opened. My breath catches in my chest as I assess how large its teeth were. I drop the hammer where I was and take my sword out.

"Mallorin." Gina whispers.

"Run!" I yell and they take off the other way as the creature jumps forward and I slash frantically with my sword. The claws barely scrape my chest as I jump back and stab it in the chest. I remove the sword but it is thrown from my hand and I stick my arm up to block my face, the worst idea I have ever had. It clamps its large teeth on my arm. I thrash and it starts to shake violently.

"Mallorin!" I'm not sure who is actually yelling at me, but it makes the panther let go. I have only seen them on an old documentary one day when I was sick at home. My step mother had been watching the news and the documentary came on about a place they used to call Florida where the panther lived. That area had been taken over by the ocean. I try to stay conscious as someone attacks the panther and is carried off into the woods by it.

"Mallorin." Amelia runs up and grabs me by the good arm, standing me up; Gina hugs me around the waist and carries most of my weight. They carry me to the most recent house we had inhabited. My blood covers the floor where they sit me down and Gina starts looking through the backpack. Suddenly the anthem starts up above. Amelia goes to the door and looks out at the sky.

"What is it?" Gina asks as she looks through the backpack we have for the first aid kit. Instead she finds a kit we would use for sewing clothes and she starts to thread black thread onto a larger needle. She starts to swim in front of me.

"It's the head game maker. He is inviting us to a feast at the cornucopia. Says there is food, water and even some first aid kits. We need some water. Oh." She reaches up and grabs a small container attached to a silver parachute.

"What is that?" I ask, my words slurring slightly.

"It's from Vincent." She opens it and gasps.

"What is it?" Gina asks.

"Medicine and bandages, there is a note on the outside that tells us not to go to the cornucopia again." She sighs and leans on the wall, sliding down it.

"We can get rainwater." I say, trying to stay awake as Amelia hands Gina the medicine and Bandages.

"This will numb you really well. You might sleep for a long time. I hope you are able to wake in an emergency." She applies it directly to my wound and instantly it numbs all the applied areas. It starts to work its way to my nervous system.

"I'm going to the cornucopia, if I start now I'll get there by morning. You two stay here." Gina says as she stitches me up.

"AH!" Amelia screams.

"Three down!" A girl stands in the doorway. She is thin and tall, her grey eyes shine under her brown curly hair and then there is hair standing behind her, sword in hand. I curse and stand up, my body starting to go completely numb. Amelia makes a sort of feral yell and jumps at the girl and takes her to the floor and they start to wrestle each other. Hair front flips over them, lands on his feet then ducks down and slices at Gina's ankles. She jumps in the air and kicks him so that she is standing on his chest. He grabs her ankles and pulls them out from under her.

I catch her just before her head smashes on the floor but he jumps up and pulls her towards him so he is straddling her hips and raises a knife above his head. I throw a knife and it hits his chest but he brings the knife down to impale Gina anyway and she takes his moment hesitation to slit his throat with her knife. He grabs his throat and she knocks him off her.

I glance over and see The other girl on top of Amelia. They both have hold of each other's hair and Amelia has a knife in her hand but the other girl has her by the wrist. They seem pretty evenly matched. Gina wrapped her arms around the girl's neck and pulled her off of Amelia to get smacked into the wall. I brace myself and swing my sword as she steps away from Gina and blood sprays us all. I fall to my knees and drop the sword.

"Gina, I have a question." I sigh.

"Yeah?" she slumps to the ground.

"Who was it that attacked the panther?" I glance over at Hair's limp form as the cannon goes off twice. The sun slowly goes down as I feel the full effects of the medicine taking hold.

"It was Hair. He ran past us and jumped on top of it." She came over and helped me stand back up.

"Why would he attack just after saving us?" I ask as we stumble through the underbrush.

"I don't know. I saw a house a little further. Stay awake until we get there!" Amelia puts my bad arm around her shoulders like Gina has done with my good arm. The anthem starts but we continue to walk. We know who all died today. The feast is tomorrow and we know that is where the blood will be shed. The rain starts to pelt us as we find an old house with moldy floors and a hole in the roof. Part of the room is dry so they lay me down and I close my eyes, unaware of anything going on around us.

**I will try to put the cookie in that sounds funny! I'll try my best to do the wall thing. ;D **


	15. Day Seven

**My best friend and editor brought to my attention that some of you may stop reading this too soon. This is a 21 chapter story so don't stop reading at the end of the games, there is more! Thank you and HAPPY HUNGER GAMES!**

The medicine makes it hard to stay awake hours pass or maybe minutes, I'm not sure. It's raining whenever I open my eyes but they two girls are never in the same spot when I open my eyes. Sometimes it's Gina in my view, others it's Amelia, and only occasionally it's both. They try to let me sleep as much as I can while no one is wandering. Sometimes I wake up in pain and try to keep it to myself. The girls always notice and force me to take medicine that makes me sleepy. I'm afraid I will go to sleep and never wake up. I never want this to be my ending. I would rather die protecting one or both of the girls. Getting them to the end is the one true thing I want in life.

I finally woke up and even though I was in pain, I wasn't in much pain. At the level of consciousness I was in and the small amount of pain meant I was healing. I sit up and lean on the wall behind me, lifting the torn shirt off my wound and grimace. The girls are staring at me and they move over to me.

"How do you feel?" This is the first time I've been able to move even a little bit. The girls help me take my jacket off and I examine the wrap on my arm and around my abdomen. It is almost perfectly wrapped, with such care to detail that the blood on it doesn't even mar how good a job Gina did.

"I feel like carp." I say, using my best friend's joke from his goodbye speech, "But not as bad as I have been feeling."

"I have to run something by you." Gina says, taking my uninjured hand in hers as Amelia started unwrapping my arm for rewrapping.

"What?" I look at Amelia who gives Gina a warning look.

"There is not enough food in the woods, not enough water for three of us; I think one of us needs to go to the cornucopia to get water." Gina looks at my hand, hers has started to shake.

"No, absolutely not! They want us to go and kill each other. When there aren't enough kills, they come up with some way to bring us together. This is what they want." I sit up and feel the painful strain in my side, as I grimace I feel the scab on my face. That will definitely scar. It won't matter after the next few days. Maybe even hours, the way the girls want to play it.

"The rain is falling thinner and thinner. If one of us goes and dies that leaves enough for the others to live until the said are better." She glances at Amelia and this infuriates me.

"So which one of you thinks you are going to sacrifice yourself for me? Hm? Which one of you is going to try to make me into a liar?" I look at them both. Amelia meets my eyes but Gina won't.

"Make you a liar? What are you talking about?" Amelia hisses. I realize being loud is not a good idea. I settle for scowling and hissing loudly.

"I promised to keep you safe, Amelia, and I promised to help you as much as I could in here!" I hiss.

"Well, you have helped me as much as you can. Now that your injured you have to settle for protecting Amelia while I go to the cornucopia and get water or die." Gina stands up and walks angrily to the door and leans against the doorway.

"I will not let you go. If anyone is going, it's me." Like an idiot I stand up and walk about three feet and fall on my face like at the reaping. They both freak out and sit me back up against the wall.

"You are an idiot." Gina huffs. I realize that while Amelia has been rewrapping my wounds, she has applied more of the medicine. I shake my head and stand up, this time I lean on the wall and draw my sword.

"You are not going anywhere!" I hold it up and stand up to my full height, one hand on the wall to steady me. The medicine on my side is not enough to knock me out, yet. If I push myself too much it will, "Not without me."

"Fine. You can come to the beach, hide in the brush. At the first sign of trouble, you can step in." She finally says. It must be nearing daylight so we start to hurry through the woods. The wounds are healed enough for me to move but even with the numbing medication, I feel every step. Through the pain I know I look awful, but I keep up with the girls and sometimes I get ahead of them and have to stop and wait for them to catch up. They don't realize, or maybe just don't mention, that I use this as an excuse to rest.

We reach the beach just before morning and the rain starts to let up. This is a dangerous time. Anyone could be around here. I try to think of who is left. Both the porcelain tributes from five, both the sturdy tributes from two, the girl from one, Gina, Amelia and I are the last ones left. I am the most worried about Greisen and Lola. I'm not sure about five. They just seem out to save each other.

"We should not do this. I am injured, you can't swim and Amelia is not leaving my sight!" I hiss to them, trying to keep my voice below the crash of the waves below on the beach, "We are the most vulnerable down there!" Suddenly Amelia grabs my hair and forces me back and onto my back.

"Shut up!" She whispers. I crawl back up to where we were and look over to see a figure on the beach and a figure in the water. The one on the beach glowed in the early morning light, his blonde hair, golden as he searched the beach to protect his sister. He had a sword in his hand but he looked terrified. He was about as tall as I am. He hadn't eaten in the few days we were her and you could tell. He flipped his hair out of his eyes and sat down. He squinted up to the area we sat in but didn't see us and looked to his left. Suddenly Amelia made a run for the beach to his far left and he leapt up to chase after her. Gina ran for the water where he had been, and I leapt up, my head snapping back and forth, trying to decide who to follow.

Gina dove into the waves and I held my breath until she came up and continued swimming. Not really swimming, she was really doggy peddling and flailing but staying up. I glanced over and saw Amelia in an epic battle with the boy, but losing. I promised Amelia I would keep her safe. I can't help Gina without risking Drowning myself and Amelia dying. They gave me no choice on purpose. I leapt down, so furious that after I slashed the boy across the back I hit his shoulder with my hammer then stabbed him through the back and out his chest. I yelled as I kicked him loose of my blade.

"How dare you!" I yell, no longer caring where we were or who heard, "How dare you use me repeatedly, even to the point where it isn't good for you anymore. Maybe it was never good for you! I can only do so much, Ami! Do you understand? If she dies, it is on your hands!" I finished my rant and slumped to my knees in the sand. It took all my strength to sheath the sword and then I leaned back against the bank, breathing heavy as the hovercraft took the boy away. Amelia curled up next to her and rested her head on my good shoulder.

"I am so sorry Mallorin." She whispered. I was tired of believing her silver tongue. So tired of being lied to and used. I stayed awake all night and waited for Gina to return, waiting to see if this was the end.

**Sorry I didn't get your last request in there _IlLuSiOnRuSsIaN_, but I had already written this when you requested. Keep an eye out though!**

**I missed a thank you for _Dreamer's Avenue_'s review so THANK YOU! I LOVE ALL MY REVIEWS!**


	16. Day Nine

**Ok guys, brace yourself for this one! Extra-long treat for you! Many fight scenes! **

I sleep through day seven and eight but finally the medicine wears off and I wake on day nine. My arm is stiff and does not want to move but I know if I don't move then I will definitely die. This is when I notice I am alone on the beach. The water is low, lower than low tide, and a lot of the marine animals lay dead on the beach. I spin around a few times frantically, which is a bad idea, and I sit hard on the dirt, dizziness taking over. Amelia has taken what water and food and provisions I had I the backpack. My medicine is in one of the pockets of my jeans. I wait about another hour and stand up again, searching the beach.

I look up at the cornucopia, nothing seems to be happening. I look at the water and see someone struggling through the water, blonde hair flipping out of their face as they swim. I run as fast as I can about chest deep in the water and jump over a wave before it dawns on me that I didn't see the person well enough to tell if it was Gina. I take a step back and suddenly the girl leaps on me and kisses me before a wave takes us under. I only get a moment to enjoy the kiss before another wave slams us into the sand at the bottom of the water. I stand up, holding her around the waist. I pull her to where the water is waist deep.

I choke for a moment then turn and smile at Gina and she hugs me again, her legs wrapping around my waist. I fall into the water and we kiss again. I don't know what has made her act this way but we have to get off the beach, now.

"G-Gina." I pull back.

"What?" She gasps.

"What's going on, what happened out there?" I ask, dizzy again. Water hits us lightly as I look into her green eyes.

"I thought you were dead. I heard the cannon but couldn't turn around. I climbed the stairs and missed when the death was in the sky." She points to the sky, not looking away from me.

"Amelia was here to make sure I was alright." I assure her. She doesn't look assured.

"Where is she? Hm? She has been trying to leave since we got attacked by that panther. I was the only reason she didn't leave you to die." Gina huffs and suddenly a wave crashes over her head.

"Come on, let's get out of here." I pick her up and wrap an arm around her waist as we start onto the beach.

"Wait!" She suddenly stops," We have to go to the cornucopia. The tributes from two and the girl from one are up there keeping it guarded but there is fresh food and water. I looked out over the arena, we have to go back to the cornucopia." She starts to pull me back to the water.

"What? Why?" I stop and she pulls me harder.

"not much time. I don't know how to explain it, really. Um, Think of the beach in district four. When all the water pulls off the beach a really large wave comes in and wipes out most of the homes close to the water." She starts pulling me again.

"Yeah, like during a hurricane." I nod and flip my hair out of my face.

"The water is being pulled back that way." She points out to the water, "So that means they are probably going to flood the Arena. We have to get to higher ground. Step in the water, you can feel it." I let her pull me out to waist deep water. Now that I'm not worried about someone swimming to me, I can feel it. The constant tug out to the water. These are the warning signs of tsunami. I shake my head, images of the past flickering at the corners of my eyes. This is not the time to let my past affect me. I have to keep Gina safe.

"Let's go up one of the towers and wait until the others kill themselves off." I say.

"No, we need to get to the cornucopia. It's the only thing with a stable enough base to hold us. The six towers are going down next high tide." She shakes her head.

"Not enough of us died the last two days. They are forcing us together. Come on, hold on to my neck and I'll swim us out for a bit." I motion to her.

"Are you sure? Are you well enough?" She asks me.

"I'm fine." I lie. I know she can't make the swim again. She is tired and there are cuts and bruises she didn't have before. She wouldn't make the swim alone. My arm is still stiff and it hurts like crazy to strain my side at all. The swim takes twice as much time. I pull us onto the steps and sit down with my feet on the bottom step, "During high tide… the water has to be up two flights… of these stairs… how anyone does…" I huff to myself. I lean back and try to catch my breath as Gina checks two flights above us to see if there is anyone up there. She returns and sits next to me.

"You need to rest, but we have to get up higher. Come on." She drapes one of my arms over her shoulders, my side aching with the strain as we start to climb. It takes almost the rest of the day for us to make it up. We are about six floors from the top when the whole building quakes violently. I look out a window and look down to the water. High tide is coming in every fifth wave causes the building to shake.

"We have to go to the top now!" I yell, grabbing her hand, we run. I trip twice as the pain becomes a burn in my side , but we keep running. On the top I stop dead in my tracks, pushing Gina behind me. Greisen grins and flexes his fingers on his axe handle.

"Hey, buddy, looks like you're in a bit of trouble there." He spins the axe and paces three steps to his left then three to the right, not taking his eyes away from mine.

"Gina, go down a flight until I give the signal." I whisper. I hear her leave and hold my hands up, "Greisen, I don't want to fight you." I start. He lifts the axe up above his head and throws it with deadly accuracy.

I anticipated where it would go and duck as I run and leap across the gap separating us. I hit him and we both tumble a few feet and he ends up on top and punches me in the face, my head snaps to the side and the world spins sickeningly. I look back at him and he takes an axe off his back and lifts it over his head. My eyes widen and it feels like the world slows down as I look around for anything, anything to save my life. I shove his shoulders with all my strength, pull my legs out from under him and kick him in the chest.

I jump up and pull my sword out of my belt as he stands up and swings his axe. The sound of metal on metal gets my blood flowing. For twenty years I fought in a war where everyone underestimated me because I looked ten. I fought like all the others but never as someone's equil. I shove him and swing for his feet as my blade meets his axe blade. He slides the blade up the side of my sword and I have to spin away or lose a finger, but I lose my footing and he wraps me in a choke hold from behind. I know it's a low move but I'm scared he's stronger than me and I will not be able to get loose. I elbow him in the genitals and he releases, falling to his knees.

I hear the whistle from behind and duck as fast as I can. A knife goes whizzing over my head as an axe flies by my wounded shoulder. I hear a sickening thunk behind me as the axe gets a target and I see the knife lodged in between Greisen's eyes. He slumps and falls over dead. I turn around to see Lola, his district partner, with the axe in her abdomen. She is still coughing and gasping as blood fills and spews from her mouth.

I flinch when the first cannon goes off and I notice movement on the roof of the building we came up on. The girl from five has Gina in a headlock and is screaming at her. I can't hear over the wind that's picking up.

"Gina!" I yell. I aim to jump over but the girl from five draws a knife and holds it to Gina's throat. The look in her eyes chills my soul. She has nothing left to live for.

"Who killed him? Who killed Chad? WHICH OF YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" She shrieks, "Was it you, Pig!" She yells at me.

"Yes! I killed him. If you want revenge you have to come get me. Kill her and you'll lose me!" I bolt for the other side, knowing she will run after me, hopefully she won't hurt Gina in the meantime. I look behind me and see her gliding after me, catching up. I stop and teeter on the edge of the cement, the wind pushing me back up and I fall, sit up, and scoot back from the edge. I turn and see her in time to roll out of the way as a sword goes down next to me.

I try to get away from her but her sword is light and she is fast. She swings and the sword slices my calf. I try to limp away as she takes another swing. This frantic swing is the mistake I need. I duck and slam into her, my shoulder under her rib cage, my hands on her hips. I slam her into the cornucopia and then ram a knife into her side.

She screams and drops the sword but quickly grabs a knife from her belt and attempts to cut my throat. I feel the sting of the blade but she didn't cut my artery, just made a nasty mark around my neck. She comes at me slashes across my face. I grab the wound but take my hammer off my belt and hold it out to my side. She growls and runs at me with the knife. I duck under her arm and come up, my hammer hits her jaw and continues through her skull, blood covering me as she falls to the ground.

I scream and drop the hammer. Her body collapses and I scoot away, trying my hardest to calm down but I can't stop yelling. I feel the metal of the cornucopia on my back as I pull my legs up to my chest and lace my hands over the nape of my neck. I bury my face in between my legs and scream to myself. Why is it hitting me now? Why is it so bad? I have killed many before. I have killed many in the past nine days.

I feel a hand on my knee and I go spastic. I try to melt into the cornucopia, then my eyes focus on Amelia in front of me. I sigh and feel the tears in my eyes.

"Is this all your blood?" She asks me, worry etching her face, but there is something else. She is battered from the swim and her hair is knotted. I put a hand on her face and she pulls me into a hug. I bury my face in her shoulder and start to sob uncontrollably. She understands.

Once I calm down I lean back and she smiles sadly, her hand still on my shoulder.

"No, this isn't all my blood. Just a good amount of five girl's blood." I breath steadily and glance down at her hand, withdrawing something from her pocket.

"Mallorin, I am so sorry about this." She looks so determined, so sad, like she is already mourning my death.

"Don't do this." I scoot back from her and she crawls forward, her face inches from mine.

"I have to." She whispers. I grab the back of her head and kiss her. The kiss isn't passionate, or cold, it's pleading. We break apart and I can't stop the tears as I draw my own knife.

"Please. If you don't do this, you will win. I won't fight you for the victory, but I will fight you for my life if I feel threatened." I know I'm making no sense; I just want her to step back. I wouldn't kill Gina for Amelia, but I would kill myself for either of them. She kissed me lightly and smiles, running her free hand through my hair.

I feel her blade move and I move faster, jamming my knife up through her trachea and out the nape of her neck. I shove her away from me as she makes awful noises and dies. I lay on my side crying and cry out when the cannon goes off. I flinch when Gina touches me. She is crying, blood running down her face from the cut on her forehead. Without a word she hugs me and we sit there until night fall, the rain soaks us through before my tears are dry.

The anthem plays and she huddles close to me. I wrap my arm over her shoulders and look up into the only clearing in the night sky. Both the tributes from two, Greisen and Lola, are first. When Amelia's picture comes up it feels like a punch to the chest and by the time the district five girl is up I am wheezing. It finishes and we hurry into the cornucopia and huddle for warmth, dressing each other's wounds and waiting for the end that is sure to come tomorrow.

**Tell me what death so far has been your favorite. Whichever deaths are commented on the most will be in the replay of the games at the end!**

**Reviews? Anyone?**

**Thank you to **_**editinggenious**_** and **_**Why Fireflies Flash **_**for your most recent reviews! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it!**


	17. Day Ten: Games Over

I stare out into the rain and watch as one of the buildings crumble. I can't close my eyes. She's dead. I promised to protect her. When I was lifted into this arena I set myself into soldier mode. Kill anything that presents itself as a threat. I gave her multiple chances, didn't I? _Then why can't I close my eyes?_ I look down at Gina, the only reason I'm still sane. She moves in her sleep and settles her head back on my shoulder as we lean on a soft pile of food, facing the entrance to the cornucopia. Surely Beth has noticed the water. Noticed the buildings falling, even.

I startle when Gina moves. I try to calm down. I stare at my shaking hands. I have washed the blood off, but some still lingers. _I will have these stains until I die._ I know death is inevitable tomorrow. I'll kill Beth and ensure Gina wins. I would have done the same for Amelia. I feel heartless. I killed her like she was nothing to me. In reality she meant a lot to me, but she was not what she thought she was to me. This girl next to me has been the only one who hasn't done a thing to me.

We hear something at the same time and stand up. A scraping noise just outside. I stand up and walk out cautiously. I pull back just as an arrow zooms past where I had been standing. Gina is at my side, handing me my sword. I can barely move my right arm it's so stiff and painful from the swim, so I hold it in my left hand.

"I'll go out first and when she is knocking her next arrow, run out and to the right. When she locks an aim on you, I'll attack from the left." I say, but the entire time I am making hand signals to the exact opposite. She runs to the edge of the cornucopia and ducks under the arrow that comes zooming. We both switch places and attack from each side. The rain is freezing as it hits our skin. It must be frozen and poured down on us. I go high and Gina goes low, then we switch, moving without a single word to each other. We weave around each other and force the redhead to the edge. She doesn't even have time to pull loose her sword, she blocks us with her bow but is quickly tiring, or so we thought.

She gets a second wind and hits me in the face then whacks Gina's shins. With a spin of the bow over her head she hits me in the gut and kicks me in the face. My head smacks the cement and the world seems to spin. Once I regain my bearings and sit up. It confuses me to see the entire place shaking. There is a deafening roar and the building in front of me collapses and the girls are weaponless, pulling each other's hair and clawing at each other.

I jump up and hug Gina around the waist. She kicks and Beth stumbles back and then Gina leans back against me, lifting herself up and kicks Beth in the chest with both of her feet. Beth flies off the Cornucopia and slams into the collapsing building. I hear all of her bones crack and the cannon goes off.

We only get a moment of relief when the building across from us falls and slams into the cornucopia, causing it to jolt us both forward and off the ledge. I hold her waist tighter with my right arm and grasp the edge with my left, my shoulder snapping as it takes all the weight of us both. She hugs tight to me and I try to keep a hold on the edge, pain racking my body.

"Mallorin, Let go, I can hold on. Grab the edge and pull us up as high as you can. I'll climb up and grab onto the edge and pull myself up the rest of the way." It's hard to hear as the rain and wind rush us. I let go of her and grab the edge with both hands but starvation and the pain make my shaking limbs impossible to use. I can't even get a good grip with my right arm.

"No use." My voice sounds frail and childlike. I look down and see the different emotions play on Gina's face. Fear, anger, concentration, and determination. She lets her arms fly back and starts to drop. I drop my left arm and grab her wrist. Pain is all that registers. So bad that I see stars and almost pass out but the rain sobers me up.

"Mallorin, if you hold on, we both die. If you let me go, you win. One of us has to win. Please, let me go." She begs me.

"I can't! I can't let you go." I am happy the rain is covering the hot tears pouring down my face.

"You have to. Mallorin, you have to trust me!" She yells. I stare down at her, she is working a braclette off of her wrist she ties it to my hand using her free hand and teeth.

"I can't let you go!" I cry out.

"Mallorin, you're going to go home, you're going to find that girl you left in your district. You will have children and grandchildren and you'll look back to this day and you'll say, 'I was right to trust her because I am the most important person in the world.' There was a reason your name was called on reaping day. Let go of me Mallorin!"

I shake my head but she relaxes her hand and slides out of my grip. She falls and I grab the edge, unsure if her sacrifice won't go to waste. The fall to the water won't kill her, the bricks from the fallen building will crush all her bones. I pull myself up on the edge and only lay there for a moment before I stand and run to an edge I can jump from and save her. I jump and close my eyes as I hit the water. The sun starts to show through the clouds.

I burst up to the surface and a wave sends me back under. I actually start to panic and swim to the surface and gaspo before another wave takes my under, spinning me over and over. I get disoriented and am on the verge of giving up when I see a beam of light through the water. The sun. I follow the shaft up to the surface and I am able to get a good amount of air before I dive down and start looking around as the water lights up in the morning sunlight. The salt burns my eyes but I keep them open anyway.

The next time I surface I scream Gina's name over and over. I swim toward the wreckage of the building. The bricks have all sunk and metal support beams jut up around me at extreme angles. I feel some cut my legs under the water. My strength is fading. I realize the water is deeper now, the giant wave has hit. None of the buildings are standing and the cornucopia is starting to fall. I see a flash of neon blonde hair and swim frantically to her.

I drag her face up out of the water and put her on my back and start to swim frantically to the shore which is much further away now. Another of the buildings falls and the cornucopia tilts towards us. Today the odds are sadly in my favor in ways I want and don't want. Another building falls and hits the cornucopia and it falls to the left. The wave slams into me and sucks me to the bottom and rolls me. I get my feet under me and shoot to the surface and forward. I swim until my feet hit solid ground. Waves crash over me but I use them to force me to the shore. I drag her up onto the beach, which isn't the comfortable sand. The water covers everything, so we are up in the dry brush we had been hiding in a day earlier. I have to lay her down in an inch of water. I press my ear to her chest and hear no breathing.

I pinch her nose and breathe air into her mouth then sit up and lace my hands together. I push all my strength onto her chest counting to myself, "One, two, three, four." Then starting the process over. Suddenly she gasps and chokes water out but doesn't open her eyes. She doesn't respond to me. I am too exhausted. I hug her to my chest and lay down in the inch deep water, laying her on top of me. My strength leaves me as I feel her heart failing.

"Please, Gina, just outlast me. Just live longer than me." My arm falls off of her shoulder, unable to hold it up any longer. My eyes close and I am hopeful. I hope the strain I have put on my heart will be enough. She just has to wait a few more seconds, I can feel my body going numb.

Then the cannon goes off…

And I am still alive to hear it…

**Thank you **_**editinggenious**_** for the review! So close to the end. So sad :'(**

**Tell me what your favorite deaths were and I'll mention them in the replay of the games in the next chapter!**

_**FOUR CHAPTERS LEFT! I am so excited!**_


	18. Wish I was going home

**Very long chapter. A little rushed. I hope you enjoy!**

I am in a haze of some sort. I struggle with those trying to separate me from Gina. I know she is dead but I can't bring myself to let go. How many times have I let go? My mother, my father, my baby brother, and now Gina. If I let go one more time I might lose my grip completely. They get me off her and somehow I'm in a medical room, no a hovercraft. I see the camera man moving around the table and there is an ache in my chest and I pass out.

I wake up a few times but not long enough to do or see anything. I don't know how long I sleep but when I come to enough I sit up and look around. I have no clue what's going on. The capitol nurse finds me in the fetal position in a corner and when she stands me up I pass out.

I remember one time there are needles and tubes but this time they aren't there. I see that the only thing I have left is the bracelet that Gina gave me. I do remember fighting them and they relented and let me keep it on.

After the haze wears off I try to reorganize myself. Vincent comes in and sits and waits for me to look at him. I don't even know why I'm here.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"I'm not allowed to tell you that." He whispers. I wonder why he is whispering but then notice how much it hurts to hear him. The lights are dim, I don't know why. They are being considerate of my condition.

"Who am I?" I ask.

"I can't tell you that either." He says.

"What can you tell me!" I sit up and yell even though I feel nauseated by the movement.

"The question is what you can tell me. Start at the beginning. We are alone in here. Tell me what you know." He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees, lacing his fingers together and watching them intently before finally looking up at me.

"I was Michael Patterson but after watching my mother bleed to death in my arms I lost myself. After I watched my father's camp explode the guilt pushed me over the edge. I was seventeen then. I was in a comatose state, unable to even acknowledge anyone. When I was twenty my mind reinvented me to hide my past from myself. As a defense mechanism I made up my own past and became Mallorin. Mallorin lived with his godmother and godfather unaware of who his parents were. A girl he met when he was younger was the only real thing left in his life. Slowly she brought Michael back out of Mallorin, then I was reaped. My mind is too fragile and when I realize exactly what I have done, I don't know what it will do." I stare into his eyes the entire time, even as a nurse comes in and starts to check me over.

"Well, it seems you haven't had very much mental damage but your mind might be blocking out the past ten days, afraid you can't handle it like you couldn't handle the war. This is Granite, she is your nurse. She will check you over and once she is done you will go to the remake room to prepare for your victory interview." He stands abruptly and leaves and all I can do is watch my nurse fiddle.

Granite has pink hair that is straight and pulled into a perfect ponytail on the top of her head running down the length of her spine. I am used to capitol people having tall hair up on their heads. It enthralls me for a good fifteen minutes. Then I see her skin is light pink and there seems to be a hot pink tattoo of a tree on her neck and up under her right eye. She catches me staring and smiles and I smile back.

"I am sorry." She finally says in a pleasant tone.

"Sorry? What for?" What could this innocent pink girl be sorry to me for?

"We tried to make you as good as new but you were dying. They didn't have time to worry about scarring. Your side…" She barely runs a finger along my left abdomen and around my back, "It's ugly." She looks down, ashamed.

"Were you in the room when they took me out of the arena?" I ask her. She just nods. I lift my shirt and inhale sharply. The pain medication they have me on is good but there is still a pang of pain when I lift my left arm.

"I am so sorry!" She cries out. Her fingers touch the scar for just a moment. It really isn't bad at all. It's just a skin tone line that rises just barely above my skin. It stretches across from the center of my abdomen around to the left side and onto my back.

"I thought I was dead. You all did a marvelous job. In district four I would have died, not had a halfway ugly scar from it." She suddenly runs her finger from my jaw to the bridge of my nose and then hands me a mirror. Normally in the capitol they can get rid of scars. I was so close to death that they didn't have time to worry about making me pretty. The scar on my face is even thinner.

"It should fade." She assures me, "Your clothes are over there. You are free to go to the remake room." She nods and leaves quickly. It amazes me that I look as good as I do. Nice tan color to my skin, the bags under my eyes receding, I have some weight on me, some of my old scars are gone, my hair is clean and soft, and I look my age. That is not a good thing, I am supposed to look seventeen, not twenty seven.

I get a pair of jeans and a white long sleeve shirt to wear. I work my way to the remake center and find my team and Ari waiting for me. Marian and Vincent are nowhere to be seen. They start on my face and hair as well as bathing me. They cut my hair short and flip it up in the front. My hair is about two inches long in the front and an inch for the rest. They somehow get it back to its natural color and then they put cover up on my face. I look about nineteen now. They put me in a black suit with blue trim the color of my eyes and the most comfortable shoes ever.

After a short meal I am rushed away and standing under the stage. It's rather lonely here with just Vincent and my stylist instead of the hoard of twenty four. My right index finger taps my leg and I can't make it stop. No matter what I do. I try to not think about the nervous tick and more about what I am about to do.

First Vincent goes on stage, then my stylist and my prep team then they call me up. I only hear my own breathing loud in my ears and feel my heart in every part of me. Once on stage I am blinded for a moment by the stage lights then I see the crowd and smile brightly. I have to put on a face. I walk over to Caesar who speaks to me but I can't hear him over my breathing.

"I didn't catch that." I say then everything comes into focus.

"I said, 'What a turn of events!'" Caesar smiles and I return it.

"That it is." I nod and we sit down.

"To start off the program tonight we will watch a recap of the games and get a first person point of view from the boy that shocked us all." He looks up at a television above the stage and I look at it as well. I see that everyone is seeing what I am seeing on the television.

_THE FIRST ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES_

The words make me sick to my stomach but I realize there is a small viewing screen showing my reaction in the corner of the screen.

_I see us all rise up from the tubes on an aerial view then each tribute in turn. My stomach knots when I see Gina and Amelia. It zooms in on me and follows me through the first five kills. I watch in shock at how I just slashed at everyone without thought. It zooms in on Greisen as he makes a face and decapitates a girl I had just split open with my sword. I notice how a lot of the clips are out of order but the kills stay within the day ranges. They zoom on my face as I do most of my killing_.

My lips move silently, counting everyone I kill, " One, two, three, four, five…" I just keep counting as they go through the days.

_The cameras watch from above as I jump, Gina in my arms, into the water as the alliance breaks then it flips to Amelia swimming under the water, eyes wide even through the painful salt._

I see flashes of me killing her every time I blink but I keep my face straight, even smug looking.

_There is a lot of fighting but rarely any deaths I am not involved in. The screen splits and shows what the last nine tributes are doing, our names listed under our little window. I watch some struggle with the water and even Lola fighting with Greisen over a cookie. She punches him and then steps on his foot causing him to relent it. _

I laugh at this because if I don't I'll cry. Greisen would have been a friend if we were not in a fight to the death. The crowd laughs with me and I smile out, acknowledging them, then return to watching the screen.

_I am passed out in the house. Gina and Amelia argue. Amelia yells something about leaving us both behind that I am going to die anyway. Gina convinces her to stay long enough for Gina to go to the cornucopia._

I feel tears welling up. I promised to keep Amelia safe. I thought to the end she should win. I am a moron. Gina should have won. Tears burn in my eyes. I wipe my face furiously.

_I smash the girl from five's head and blood sprays up in the air and all over me. I curl up and then there she is. Amelia kneels in front of me. We kiss and words are shared between us. _

I already see the knife at her side. Her death comes quickly and I jump in my seat and the whole crowd gasps. I know they have already seen this, why are they reacting this way? Then I remember they are watching me.

_They zoom through us working together to kill the last girl then they play the cornucopia falling in slow motion and my many attempts to hold onto Gina. She cries out and I can finally hear what she is saying in crystal clear words and she falls. _

I close my eye when she hits and roll the bracelet around my wrist. When I look back the film is almost over and my moth falls agape.

_The aerial view shows water covering the whole arena. It isn't very deep in most places but it is there. I swim and by sheer luck I find Gina's broken body. I drag her through the water, on the brink of death myself. The camera's zoom on my face as I try to revive her then hug her close before the cannon goes off. They show the struggle to get her free of my arms and then the struggle in the hovercraft. Just before they cut off one of the machines sings out a steady beep. I died on that table. The screen goes black. THE FIRST ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES VICTOR scrolls in blue letters on the screen then a picture of me and the lights come back on._

I sit with my mouth slightly agape. I blink several times and a tear slides down my face. I am unable to move, unable to function. Caesar is talking to me but I don't hear him. I lick my lips and look down at my trembling hands then run them through my hair. Caesar attempts talking to me again.

"Give me a moment." I sob. I calm my breathing and wipe my face and look up at him, "Alright, you were saying." Every now and then I have to wipe a tear away.

"Did you think you could do it?" He asks.

"No, I really was aiming for one of the girls to win." I answer truthfully.

"Ah the girls, we asked you before who you loved. I see there was more between you and Amelia than you thought, am I correct to assume?" He asks.

"Oh, yeah. I thought, we all thought, she loved me in some way. I kissed her and begged her not to attack me." I say.

"Begging your lover for your life." Caesar tries to add.

"No, I was begging for her life." I look at him and smile sadly, "She didn't see it that way."

"I understand. What about Virginia or Gina, as you called her?" he asks.

"I didn't think much of her during training but we got to know each other pretty well." I smile, "I hated when she lost her hair."

"Yes but there were some moments there, was there not a romance there?" He wiggles his eyebrows.

"I don't know how to tell you this." I stare into the Caesar Flickerman's eyes for a moment then turn and give the same piercing stare to the camera. I know everybody is watching me at this exact moment. With my ice blue eyes, so full of sadness and need and hate, no one can look away from their television. Even the most teary eyed or angry about what I did in the arena are watching.

"Tell us what?" Caesar says when I take too long.

"I loved her." I mutter, casting my eyes down at the precise moment, that one moment that makes everyone gasp. I stand up, pull out a knife and stab myself in the chest. This is how the 1st Hunger Games ends; this is how it all ends.

With the death of Mallorin Pitchman, the first victor of the Hunger Games, but they can't make it that easy on me.

I collapse to the floor and start to choke. I feel the blood filling my airway and I choke it up. The warm liquid runs down my face and neck, collecting in a pool on my neck. Vincent lifts my head up and presses his hand to my wound.

"Don't… let me live." I choke out to him. He smiles sadly down at me.

"If they could save you from what happened in the arena they can save you from this. You are the bravest and most foolish person I have ever met." He sighs and the medics force him to move away.i lay there, my vision failing. Waiting for the end that never comes. I am awake the entire time they work on me onstage. They fix up deep inside, fix up the surface, even make it look pretty. I am in excruciating pain as they work but they have no time to numb me. I beg for them to let me die and they all remark about my insanity, how the games made me go mad, crazy even. I am a coward. The only way to get me to rid this world of myself was death and I couldn't bring myself to do it until my guilt outweighed my will to live.

I sit for a day in the hospital wing and they tape my release from the hospital and I have dinner then the next morning is the crowning ceremony. I am forced to stand up on a raised platform and listen to a speech from President Fortune and he turns to place a crown on my head. He leans over to me, still smiling. I flinch when he speaks.

"We both know you aren't crazy, boy. Let's get this straight, you deserve what is coming for you." His hair is dark green and slicked back, his foul face is normal colored but his lips match his hair and outfit. He smiles and turns to the crowd, "Your Victor! Mallorin Patterson! Oh, my mistake, Pitchmen."

The realization hits me like a sledgehammer. He knows me, he knows who I am. That slip up was not an accident. All I can think of is my family back home and my mind snaps. There is only one person that can bring me back, and I just endangered her and everyone I care for.

The next day flies by. They have to prepare me for the train home, it will take a long time to get back to four and they fear I'll relapse in the time it takes. I am so lost in thought that I don't even know how many days I have been out of the arena. I stare out the window for a long time, long after the capitol has faded from view. I jump when Vincent touches my shoulder.

"You should sleep. You won't get much the first week home. The cameras won't leave for a few days." He nods and leads me to my room where I strip my shirt and flop on the bed. He is right.

We arrive home a few days later, I have already been made up by my prep team. I have a pale blue shirt on and blue jeans with a matching jacket. I step off the train and they usher me to the town square and onto a podium to be congratulated for winning. My face is emotionless. I am caught in thought until I finally look out in the crowd and see _her._ I step off the stage and through the crowd, they melt away like ice as I pass. I stop in front of her, she is different. My now ex-girlfriend stands nearby, mouth agape as I ignore her completely.

I look into her neon green eyes, run a hand through her copper hair that she has styled in ringlets, I touch her face and she pushes my hand away each time.

"No, Mallorin." But I know she wants to see me as much as I want to see her. There is barely enough of a height difference to call her shorter than me, but she is by an inch. Her real name comes to mind but I don't say it aloud. I say her refugee name. While my mind gave me no choice, she chose her name and fake identity.

"Natalia." I whisper and I pull her into a hug. I know she doesn't like being touched that much. Natalia is the one girl that I would have killed to live for. I did kill to live for her. Some I didn't mean to. She pulls back and holds my face between her hands. She looks in my eyes and her smile fades.

"There was a reason we stopped talking. Go on, we'll talk later." She nods and turns me around.

When the sun goes down I run down to the edge of the water where we always meet. Natalia is waiting for me. I sit on the sand next to her and she turns to me.

"You expect everything to be forgiven because you were reaped?" Is the first thing out of her mouth.

"No." I mutter.

"Then what? What did you expect?" She turns to me and I am unable to look at her.

"I didn't expect anything. I thought I would never see you again." I mutter she smacks the side of my head.

"I was starting to reach you and you blew it for that witch. I almost had Michael back and you chose to live as Mallorin with Amelia. I kept thinking that I couldn't wait for you to come home. It took seeing you this morning to realize, you will _never_ come home. I saw Michael in that arena. I saw Michael die in that arena. They brought Mallorin back, you're never coming home." She flops in the sand in her pretty turquoise skirt. Her ringlets are in a ponytail now and I just want to run my hands through them.

"I am Mallorin now. I can't stand to live as Michael anymore. I don't even think I can live as Mallorin anymore."

"You're a coward and how many more identities are you going to have before you realize you can't run away." Her words sting worse than any weapon. The one person who is real in my life and I can't be the one real person in hers. She is struggling as much as I am.

"Nia." I call her by her nickname as I turn to her and look in her eyes.

"Say my name." She whispers.

"Natalia." I say. She huffs and hugs her knees, hiding her face in the cloth covering her legs.

"You'll never come home. I tried." She isn't one to cry so she stands up and just leaves me on the beach. I sit out there all night, unable to sleep. I watch the stars and moon sink into the water, the sun rising from behind me. I completely shut down. She is right. Vincent finds me and sits down as the sun starts to heat up the ground.

"Michael, we need to go. The cameras are going to get a few last shots. Come on." He puts a hand out to me. I look at him, just noticing him for the first time.

"Michael is dead." I stand up and head to my house to get some things before I get remade again. On the way there I stop as a group approaches me. In the middle is a strikingly blonde guy, bigger than me by a foot high and across.

"Mallorin, remember me? I'm the brother of the girl you promised to protect." I see his eyes are puffy from crying and his face is flushed with anger. I recognize him from somewhere else. I smile.

"Oh your sister was Amelia, right? I can't keep the girls straight anymore. So many…" I don't get to finish my sentence before his fist slams into my jaw. I look up and smile, holding my injury as I taste blood.

"You murdered her." He snarls at me.

"She betrayed me. Just like the snake she was." This time I duck under his swing and slam my shoulder into his chest, slamming us both to the ground. I sit up on top of him and pin his hands down with my knees, punching him in the face. I am pulled off my two large guys. I hit one in the face with the back of my head and I slam my elbow into the other one. I jump on top of my initial attacker. I am grabbed and flung onto my back. I cough and pain laces through my side as Vincent is standing above me.

"What were you thinking? You three get out of here!" The group scatters as I lay and try to breathe through the pain, "Are you crazy?" I stand up slowly and turn to him.

"Aparently!" Then I storm off, unsure of my direction. I just need to get away from everyone.

**Thanks for your review _editinggenious. _ I love you all. So close to the end! Any more reviews?**


	19. Reread!

**I must apologise! the last chapter got mixed up I am so sorry to all! Please reread the last chapter I posted something from another story! Please forgive me... **

**THE LAST CHAPTER WAS WRONG! rEREAD IT! IF THE LAST TIME YOU READ IT IT MENTIONS HAYMITCH REREAD IT! i AM SO SORRY!**


	20. Victory Tour

**Ok guys I hope i fixed the mess that was chapter eighteen. Please reread it if it said anything bout Haymitch. Thank you.**

I became apathetic for exactly this reason. After the games the capitol people left and even though the village is a little better off, I am not. I live in victor's village, twelve buildings made for future and present winners of the games. They have one of these in each village. I chose a pastel blue house and it is so clean that the capitol would be jealous. No one visits. No one lives here. No one looks me in the eyes anymore.

Natalia has avoided me at all costs. Vincent went back to the capitol about five months ago. He called me to warn me that he will be back in about a month to help me get ready for my victory tour around the districts. We travel the districts from twelve to one, skipping four, and then we have a party in the capitol then home for the final party to remind everyone at the halfway point in the years that the Capitol is still in charge.

I wander the streets of the town. No one takes notice of me other than to walk on the other side of the street. I am so apathetic and lonely but they all see me as a murderer. I am a murderer. No, Michael is. That's who I was in the war, who I was in the arena. Now I am just apathetic Mallorin. He didn't see blood and death at his hands. He was just a normal seventeen year old orphan, now eighteen. Mallorin was the twenty seven year old soldier.

I punch the window next to me painfully. It shatters and cuts my hand open. I look up at the poor owner and try to apologize. She just screams for me to leave and I do, after tossing a few coins on the doorstep. I walk a few doors down and notice that my hand is bleeding badly. _Great job._ I think to myself and I turn to go to the apothecary. I can afford the doctor but I try my hardest to pay as many poorer people.

"We don't have time for you today, Mallorin. I am sorry." Erica tells me at the door. He mother is the main Apothacary.

"Alright. Oh, don't tell your mother I gave you this." I hand her a bag of money. We went to school together and were close friends before everyone shunned me. I decide the next place to go is my godmother's house. They have been forbidden to talk to me by my godfather. I have been completely shunned for how easy killing came to me. He won't even let them accept my money.

"I'll see you later." She smiles nicely before she retreats into the house. I walk down the street and into our small village, my home, the one place I was not accepted anymore. I walk to the house I called home and knock on the door. Thankfully Cory answers the door and I don't have to fight my way into the house.

"Is your dad home?" I ask him.

"No. Mom is in the kitchen. Get yourself cleaned up in there." He leads me into the kitchen and she turns around and sighs before starting on my hand, stitching it up and wrapping it. She doesn't ask me if I want something to numb me. Being numb in any way makes me sick. Just the thought of being numbed makes me want to throw up.

"Orin?"She calls me by my old nickname, "What is going on in that head of yours?" She is the only one who understands me in any way.

"I hate this. Are you sure you can't move in with me? Bring the kids? I can't stand you living in poverty like this." I shake my head. Out of everything I hate that they are still struggling the most.

"I can't. We can make it. We were able to raise five children. We can make it." She finishes my hand and smiles but the smile wipes off her face when the door opens nd my godfather steps in.

"I am leaving, alright?" I stand up and shove past him and walk down the street as the sky clouds over. As I walk I shove my hands in my pockets and watch the ground. I slam into someone. I look up and smile, "Natalia."

"No, Mallorin." She tries to shove past me and I grab her by the shoulders.

"Please don't do this. Can't we talk about this?" I ask.

"No. I have to go." She tried to get past again but I hold steady.

"Tell me what I did wrong!" I shout, trying to stay calm. She punches me in the face, not hard but it startles me. She leaves and the rest of my month is spent wandering the district to distract myself. I swim a lot. I go further into the district and water every time.

Finally the time comes. Vincent helps my prep team prepare me. I hate the entire experience. We make it to district twelve in no time and I stand in a sort of square, the same one they are reaped from. I make a speech thanking them for their contributions, even though I didn't meet them. Day after day passes and we go down the districts in backwards order.

The night before we reach nine no one can calm me down. The apathy slips as anger, frustration, grief and fear slam into me. I stay in the bathroom losing the last meal I had until I just sit gagging. No one can calm me down. The next morning Vincent gets me to eat some toast and sends me to my prep team. About half way through the makeup I run to the restroom and lose my toast and sit gagging for an hour. They complain about the black circles under my eyes but if they had my nightmares they would have them as well. They try to turn my green face to a normal color but the makeup doesn't work.

By the time we get there Vincent has to walk next to me and keep a hand on my arm because I can't hold myself up. I look down at my trembling hands and then we stop in front of a mirrored wall. I finally see what the games have done to me. I am thinner and taller but leaner from the working out I do in my spare time. I have a beard, not a thick one, and a mustache. My hair is still short and styled the same but my face is aged and weary. I look nothing like Mallorin. I see my father. I start dry heaving and double over. I have to face Gina's grieving family.

We are moved onto a platform over a marble floored square. I can't remember what their district is known for. I see the family of the nine boy on the left side and I whimper. My left hand grabs a chunk of my hair and I try to turn around. I don't want to see Gina's family at all. Vincent turns me around and whispers something.

"Think about your family. You have to do this." He leads me onto the stage and there is a small speech and they stick me in front of the microphone. I grip the edges of the podium and look down as sweat drips from the end of my nose. I look up at the crowd and lean to the microphone.

"The greatest losses are always our own. We always see others losses as lesser because we do not experience them first hand. I can't even start to grieve for Virginia because she was not mine to grieve for. She was yours." I finally look at her family. One girl sits closest to the woman that must be Gina's mother. The man is the only one standing. The girl has blonde hair like Gina's and the man's but it is cut short and ragged. It startles me when I realize she is mourning Gina by cutting her hair, "I didn't know her for very long but I can say your loss is one of the greatest the world will ever see. She once told me, as she tried to save my life, 'You will look back and say, 'I was right to trust her, because I am the most important person in the world.' And then she fell from my grasp. I can now say _she _was the most important person in the world."

"Hurry." Vincent hisses next to me.

"I don't feel like a victor. Would a victor have killed the love of his life to save his life? Would he have slaughtered twelve people just because he was told to? The Hunger Games is cruel. That is all I can say. I am so sorry for your loss." I make eye contact with the woman and then the microphone is taken from me. I am handed a treat basket and an award and the mayor says a few things before I am ushered into the dining hall of one of their government buildings.

All the other districts roll by smoothly. I eat at all of them but weeks of malnutrition causes me to throw it up on the train that very night. When we get to the capitol I am escorted by myself to a private meeting. I sit alone in an office and wait until the President comes and sits on the other side of the desk. I am frozen by fear as he smiles and then glances behind him at the window overlooking the capitol. He turns back to me.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He asks casually.

"Y…" I clear my throat, "Yes sir, it is."

"I have a proposition for you. Agree to it or you will regret it." He smiles like we are talking about the weather.

"Do I get to know what I am losing?" I ask coldly.

"You are very popular in the Capitol and my proposition is that you meet a few of my clients and be theirs for a night or two. Maybe repeatedly." He shrugs.

"What! I don't understand." I shake my head.

"I want you to be my playboy or you will slowly lose everything you care for." He leans across the desk, "And life will be very lonely for a crazy victor who was at fault for the death of those he cared for." I completely come unhinged. I yell at the top of my lungs and stand up, slamming my fists onto the desk, the wood splintering under my fists.

"I will not be the Capitol's whore!" I shout. He stands and walks around his desk and leans over my shoulder so that his lips are next to my ear, his hot breath causing my skin to crawl.

"You already are. Remember, the offer always stands." Then he is gone, like a wisp of smoke. My mouth falls agape and I collapse into the chair. Vincent comes to collect me and we go down a few flights of stairs and the door opens to the biggest room I have ever been in. the crème color walls shimmer with a pearl overlay that matches the chandeliers that dangle three floors overhead. The fireplace takes up an entire lower half of the wall to our right and tables line the entire wall to my left. The room is longer and wider than it is tall and full of people of strange colors and sizes.

"I can't do this." I tell Vincent. He shoves me into the room. I smile and mingle with the women who compliment me and flirt with me and look at me like a piece of meat. The men sometimes come to me and talk about things I have no clue about but I laugh and smile at the right times. I try to eat something every now and then but I keep feeling like I am going to vomit in the middle of the floor. I obviously don't look like I am having the worst time of my life. Women seem to line up to dance with me or just talk. They even argue over who's turn it is with me.

_Don't worry ladies, for the right price you'll probably have me._ This thought finally sends me over the edge and I excuse myself, barely making it to the restroom. No one follows, no one comes to comfort me. I gag and choke and sob in complete isolation for a good hour before I am able to get up, clean myself off and return to the party. At midnight they finally lead me out and to the train to start the treck home. I am so glad this is all over for another six months. I pass out for the entire ride home. They don't bother me because it is the most sleep I have had in over six months.

We arrive in district four and I dress quietly, Ari fixing my so I don't look so sick and ragged. I step off the train and smile at the crowd of strangers. None of my family or friends has come. I take a deep breath and the usher me to a stage like everywhere else. They shove me in front of a microphone.

"I can't believe I even get to see this place again. I left this place half a year ago expecting to die and came back a victor. Thank you for my wonderful upbringing here in district Four." Then I get off the podium and they lead me to a gorgeous feast the town definitely can't afford.

Once the cameras and capitol people leave I go home and sleep through my nightmares and then wake the next morning and head to town. As I walk people spit at me and some hiss but most whisper viciously under their breaths. I don't know why until I get home. My godfather meets me in the front yard yelling.

"You have brought nothing but pain and grief to this family! Get off of my lawn and never come to this part of the district again or I will kill you myself." I step back in shock and look behind him at Cory. Cory is leaning on the banister of their porch, arms crossed, stareing at the ground as tears threaten to fall down his face.

"Cory, what's going on?" I ask. My godfather answers.

"She's dead, are you happy now? Get out of here." He yells. I turn and start to walk, glancing back as Cory runs inside. My Godmother is dead. I run to Natalia's house and bang on the door until her mother answers.

"Please, how did my godmother die? I beg you, please tell me." Natalia touches her mother's arm then comes out on the porch with me, closing the door.

"Mallorin, she drowned, in the river." She points and I turn my head in that direction then take a step back."

"No, she couldn't have." I deny.

"Mallorin, she _drowned."_ I hear it in her voice. The accusation and I relize why everyone is treating me so badly. The president killed her, just as he promised. I turn and run to the river as fast as I can, even as pain coursed through my side. At the river I ripped the rope bracelet off my wrist and pulled my hand back and with all my anger I made to toss it but just as my hand was about to fling forward another hand stopped it. The small hand gripped my wrist and held fast as I try to frip from her grasp, to little avail.

"You'll regret it." Natalia whispers.

"I can't stand the weight of her anymore, of them, of any of this." I collapse to my knees and she pries my hand open and takes the bracelet. I turn and watch her hands as she swiftly ties it on her own wrist. She puts her hands on my face and gently forces me to look up.

"Then let me." She whispers so softly it's almost lost under the roar of the water.

"Vanessa." Her real name escapes my lips and we kiss, her arms wrapping around my neck and into my hair, my arms around her tiny form as we kneel together, wrapped in each other so tight we might as well be the knot on Gina's bracelet.

**Sorry for the confusion _editinggenious _ and _MissDizzyD_**


	21. Epilogue

**The Final Chapter**

Three years have passed since my reaping. I took a job as a mentor for the tributes of four. We haven't had another victor since me and the games seem to get harder every year. They are trying to give the crowd something to cheer for. My children, the tributes, always get the best sponsors but they never make it very far. They are immediate targets because of my killing spree the first year.

I also have taken up the president's offer, and I am sold or given as a prize about three times a month and sometimes for a week at a time. I do some regrettable things but through being the Capitol's whore I make love with only one person.

Just before the Second Games I Married Vanessa. She knows that I am sold for sex but she loves me and helps me fight through it. Our wedding certificate says Vanessa and Michael who have no other documents under their names so when my daughter was born she was stated as only having her mother. No one wants to buy a married man with a daughter to be with. We named her Vanessa Michel. When she started to speak she couldn't understand how to say it so now we call her Nessa-Mie. She is listed as only having one parent, Natalia. At least this way she gets more money.

No one looks at me like a killer anymore. They all know what I go through and how hard I fight. Cory escaped the reaping by someone volunteering for him. Now for a few more years I can be at peace knowing none of my family are at danger of the capitol's reach. My only fear is that my daughter has been guaranteed a spot when she is old enough.

Now only three, we can breathe and live and raise Nessa-Mie without worry. I get phone calls frequently and have to leave them but they let my wife and daughter live in the house I won. With the money I receive we have brought a lot of the place back to prosperity.

I still have nightmares every night. I wake up and scream. It takes Vanessa talking to me for fifteen minutes to normally fix me. I hope my daughter never has to go through this.

The reaping is today. We stand in the courtyard, actually I get to sit on stage. Marian winks at me, she is actually a frequent buyer. Now at thirty two the idea of being sexual partners with her isn't as repulsive as it once was. She goes to call the names and before I know it I am on the train and headed to the capitol once more. I run my hands through my hair and look across the table at the two tributes. The boy isn't much but the girl looks strong and confident and determined. I think of the look Gina had on her face when she fell, the look Vanessa had when she took Gina's bracelet, this girl is just like them.

"What did you say your name was?" I ask her.

"Call me Mags." She grins.

"That sounds like a sweet little old lady that has to be carried through the forest. Can't we call you something else?" I ask.

"No, Mags. The name is Mags." She insists. The boy stands and leaves and I smile brightly.

"I think we have a winner in this one." I smile to Marian who blushes. The color of her skin causes her cheeks to turn purple. I laugh and then hug her, "This is going to be the one." I assure her.

Sure enough, she is.

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_**Hey check out Joshua. evans123's story My Arena, My Capitol It is coming along and it is his first so give him a shout out for me! Reviews are life! if you can't find him he gave me a review and he should be there.**_

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**I am writing a sequel to this called Child of the Games. Please keep an eye out for it. Thank you all for reading and thank you all for your reviews!**

**Thank you **_**editinggenious, TheMutualEnemy, Why Fireflies Flash, Dreamer's Avenue, MissDizzyD, IlLuSiOnRuSsIoN, **_**and Joshua. evans**_**123 **_**for your reviews your lovely reviews! Thank you all for following me to the end of this journey. I hope my next one is as good. I try. **

**Any Farewell reviews?**


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